Ancient Circles
by Dragon of the NightSky
Summary: A series of grusome killings is haunting Toronto and the killer knows a dangerous secret.


Author's Notes: This is my very first piece of fan fiction and its even not in  
my native language. So if you stumble over strange sentences or  
something like that, just blame it on my German upbringing, ok?  
  
Many many thanks to my beta readers Jan, who alpha-readed the   
first nine parts, Emily, who commented the first nine and   
Jenieve who beta-readed the whole 17 parts, corrected spelling   
and grammar mistakes and suggested changes and additions.   
Thank you for you patience with me and for your comments   
about the story. It has helped me a lot and I have to admit   
that I was nervous as hell.   
  
Disclaimers: Forever Knight and all its character don't belong to me but to   
TBTB (although they don't deserve them). Rachel Allyson belong to   
me and if you want to play with her, please ask me first.  
  
Warning: This story got completely out of my hands, took some turns I never   
thought possible and kept surprising me while writing it. Sometimes it is   
really, really silly. I couldn't help it, but now you are warned.   
  
This story takes place somewhere at the beginning of the third season (early   
February 1995), but the plane crash never happened. Schanke moved to Calgary,   
Cohen is still Captain and Nick is short one emotional trauma.  
  
This story is dedicated to my grandfather, who died at the 15th of October,  
1999. He had terminal cancer. Several people in this story carry bits and   
pieces of his personality. The dog, Nyko, really exists and belonged to him.  
BTW, the pinning incident did really happen (to me !).  
  
I appreciate any and all feedback Flaming_Saphire@Yahoo.de   
Just be gentle, its my first attempt of writing fanfic.   
  
ANCIENT CIRCLES by Stargazer   
(1/17)   
  
part one Wolf  
  
The surroundings were strange, noisy and he didn't like the smell here.  
But he was needed here, he had a purpose in this unfamiliar terrain. It would  
hurt him, but he always survived and it would hurt HER, but it was necessary.  
A soft breeze caressed his fur as the wolf searched for his goal.  
  
***  
  
He looked down at the man at his feet. He was a good choice, young, strong   
and healthy. The man struggled against his bonds but there was no way to  
escape, he had made sure of it. Yes, he was a good choice. He smiled. Tonight  
his children would have a feast.  
  
***  
  
Natalie was exhausted. The number of her 'regular' customers had skyrocketed  
Now it looked like a bunch of wild animals had escaped from the zoo  
and were tearing people to shreds. It gave her the creeps. The worst thing  
was, it only looked like a bunch of wild animals. None had escaped, that would  
have been reported. No animal would dispose the bodies in the way they had been  
found. Natalie pinched the bridge of her nose. The killer was simply too clever  
to be an animal. It had to be human. She looked at the body on her table and  
her stomach lurched. How could a human being do such a thing ? And how was  
it done ? She looked again at the pitiful remains of a corpse and her  
professionalism kicked in. This body was in better shape than the others, maybe  
she could find her answers here.  
  
Three hours later she was on her way to Nick's and hopefully some nice   
videos. She really needed that now. She had been right. The body had given  
her some answers. Horrible answers. The victim had been tied up before he was  
killed, so there was a serial killer out there, but the victim was killed by   
animals. She had been able to detect some teeth marks which looked like they   
belonged to a carnivore of some sort, but she couldn't say which. She would   
need to do some comparison studies. A serial killer who used animals as murder   
weapons, how perverted!   
  
She drove, distracted mulling over her findings. She slammed on her breaks, but  
saw the dog too late, it never had a chance. There was a sickening sound as the  
car collided with the animal. "Oh my God !" Natalie leaped from the car and ran  
to the dog. The canine was gray, white and huge. It was lying in the street,   
but still alive. It growled when she reached out for it and then it jumped on   
it's feet, bit Natalie on her outstretched right hand and disappeared to a   
small alley. Natalie was shocked. She looked from the place where the dog had   
been lying to the alley and then to her bleeding hand. The bite was deep and  
clearly visible on her hand. It looked really ugly. That was when it started  
to hurt. And it hurt a lot. Stop the bleeding. Where was her first aid kit ?   
Damn, she knew where it was: out of reach. The bleeding was heavy. She knew she  
should go to the hospital, but it was far too long to drive with an injured  
hand. What should she do ? Cellphone, use your cellphone and call Nick. Sun   
isn't up for several hours, he could drive you to the hospital.   
  
Natalie fumbled in her pockets until she could reach her cellphone. She grit   
her teeth as she dialed his number. "Knight." "Hi Nick, I need your help."   
"Natalie? What happened ?" "I've had a little accident. I need you to take me  
to hospital." There was a small pause in the line. "I'm coming." And then the  
line went dead.  
  
Natalie wondered how he would find her, he didn't know, where she was and she  
didn't had a chance to tell him. A soft whoosh told her, that he had found her.  
"Natalie ?" He looked at her bleeding hand and suppressed his needs at once.  
His nostrils flared. "You were attacked by a wolf ?" "A wolf ?" Natalie was  
stunned. "I thought it was some kind of dog !" He shook his head no. "How do  
you know it was a wolf ?" She asked curious. He flashed her a small embarrassed  
smile. "I can smell it." Ok, he can smell it. Of cause he can. So it was a  
wolf who bit me, but does it really matter ? Dog or wolf or whatever, my hand  
would hurt the same way. She clenched her hand unconsciously and then winced  
at the pain. He looked at her, at her bleeding hand and decided that he could  
fill her in on details later. Now it was important to get Nat to the hospital.   
Fast. He took her car keys and locked the doors. Nat squealed in surprise as he  
gathered her into his arms and took to the air. The wind rushed through her   
hair, but she barely noticed. He was taking her flying ! He had never done   
that before ! Maybe the whole accident wasn't half bad. She snuggled closer to   
him, buried her face in his chest to hide her smile. Nick looked at her,   
watching her smile. He liked it when she was smiling. It made him feel whole.   
Far too soon the hospital came into sight. He landed out of sight of the people  
in the parking lot and walked with Nat to the entrance.  
  
***  
  
It was done. His body still hurt from the impact, but he was healing already.  
He could go home now. Now others would do their deed and once again everything   
would be alright. The old mistake would be eradicated.  
  
***  
  
Her hand hurt and Natalie made quite a face as the doctor examined it. It was a  
nasty bite wound that would require several stitches. The local anesthesia made  
her whole hand feel numb. She answered the doctor's questions, and distantly   
watched him place her stitches. After she had received the usual rabies and   
tetanus shots and her hand was securely wrapped in ace bandages, she finally   
was released form the hospital. It was nearly dawn by now. Nick was forced to   
fly at top speed to reach the loft before sunrise.  
  
***  
  
Natalie agreed as Nick suggested to have her car towed to a garage, but she   
refused as he asked her to call a cab. She didn't want to go home. The whole   
incident had shaken her more than she wanted to admit. She didn't want to be   
alone right now, she wanted to snuggle to his chest, wanted him to hold her,  
make her feel safe and secure, until she would fall asleep. With a sigh she   
curled in his lap and was soon sound asleep. Nick sat absolutely still,   
embracing the lovely warm body in his arms. He looked at her and sighed.  
She was so beautiful, so breathtaking and he loved her. How often had he  
thought about telling her about his love ? So many times. How often had he  
stopped himself from doing so ? Way too often. The whole situation was  
impossible. He couldn't tell her the truth. It was too dangerous for her.  
A vampire couldn't make love to a mortal without killing her or him in the heat  
of passion. The only thing he could do now was admire her secretly. His   
thoughts were lost in her heartbeat. It's sweet gentle rhythm luring him. He   
wanted to drown in the smell of her blood. Oranges, vanilla and cinnamon it   
called to him. He wanted to taste it, longed to taste it. Just a drop, a small   
sip. He shook his head. His fangs were descending and his eyes had taken on the  
vampire's golden hue. NO ! He turned away thankful that Nat hadn't seen his   
moment of transgression. He had to move away from her now. Carefully he slipped  
out of the embrace and fetched a blanket to cover her. Then he fled to the   
relative safety his bedroom and willed himself into sleep.  
  
***  
  
Nat woke with a start. She looked around, noticed that it was only noon by  
now. Something had woken her. Something wasn't right. Then she heard it.  
The small sound, a whimper really, was coming from Nick's bedroom. Curious   
she got up and moved to the staircase. Slowly she tiptoed upstairs and peeked   
in. Nick was in bed, curled in a fetal position. Her heart nearly broke as she   
listened to the small pitiful noises he made. He looked so lost, so helpless.   
And yet she couldn't help but notice the outline of his fangs against his lips.  
They had to be fully descended. Quietly she closed the door and went   
downstairs. She couldn't help him. Not when his vampire had so obviously   
emerged. He had warned her, never to startle a vampire, even if she only tried   
to help. The results would be rather deadly in case. So whatever he was facing   
in his dreams, he had to face it alone. Sadly she slumped on the couch, drawing  
the blanket tight around her, seeking some comfort. It was quite early and she   
was exhausted. She closed her eyes and before she even realized, she was fast   
asleep.  
  
***  
  
Nick glanced down at Nat and shook his head. She was really out of it. He had  
expected her to be awake by the time he got up but she was still sleeping   
soundly. "Natalie." No reaction. He bent over her and shook her lightly. "Stop   
it, Syd. Mommy is really tired." She mumbled, still asleep. He couldn't   
suppress a grin. Great, now she believes that I'm her cat. Automatically  
Nat reached out and started to pet what she believed was her cat. He was  
too stunned to react. No one has ever done this before but.. Hey, that   
actually feels good. He closed his eyes, moved closer to her to allow her  
better access and then he started to purr. His purrs were much deeper than   
anything Sydney could produce. He knew she might notice, might wake up. But he   
couldn't stop himself. It felt so good. And as long as she didn't notice he   
might be able to enjoy it.   
  
He couldn't remember when he was this happy or this relaxed. Not only the   
human part, but the vampire as well. Especially the vampiric part of him.   
Did it really matter ? Suddenly the stroking stopped. Her increased heartbeat   
told him, that she was awake. He opened his eyes, meeting her astonished   
stare. She was redder than a beet and he knew that if he could blush, his color  
would match hers. What had he thought he was doing? Nat opened her mouth and   
shut it again. She couldn't believe it. First she awoke, wondering how deep   
Sydney's purrs had become, only to find out that it wasn't Sydney she was   
petting, wasn't Sydney who was purring, but Nick ! She blushed deeper. Stroking  
Nick like he was her cat. Well he had purred like some sort of cat. Obviously   
that's another thing vampires could do. a small voice in her head said, but   
she didn't pay attention. Purring like a cat didn't make Nick a cat. She was   
such an idiot. What would he think of her now ?   
  
"I'm sorry." She was thrown back into reality. "What?" "I shouldn't have done   
that." He looked down at his hands. She was confused. "Done what? Purring when   
I...when I petted you?" "No, allowing myself to be stroked by you. I didn't   
think. I...it just felt so good and I... I'm sorry." She didn't understand. Why  
was he sorry when he had enjoyed it? She asked him. He looked at her perplexed.  
"Because I've embarrassed you. I..." She couldn't help herself but started to   
laugh. He looked at her in disbelieve, totally startled by her reaction. "Sorry  
Nick." She hiccuped. "It's just.. just.. I thought how embarrassed you must   
feel while you..." And she bursted out laughing again. She lost it, really lost  
it. Waves of laughter rolled through her body until she struggled for air.   
Tears of laughter rolled down her face.   
  
It took nearly twenty minutes until she was breathing normally except for the   
hiccups. "So, you liked it ?" She asked him lightly, when she found, she had   
breath enough. He avoided looking at her and a slight flush of color in his   
cheeks told her that he was trying hard to blush. "Well, yes. I..I ..nobody has  
ever done this to me before but...it felt good, really good." He wanted to tell  
her how good it had felt but he couldn't find the appropriate words.   
  
She reached out. "May I ?" He nodded, too stunned to speak. She wanted to do it  
again ! He gathered her in his lap and waited. Natalie started to pet him with   
deliberate slow strokes and was rewarded with deep rumbling purrs. She was   
thrilled. She could feel his chest vibrating with every stroke. This felt so   
right, so wonderful. She opened her eyes (when had she closed them?) to meet   
his. His wonderful, half closed, golden eyes. Golden? It was like getting hit   
with a bucket of ice water. No, don't spoil the moment. Ask him, maybe it is   
totally normal. She took a deep breath. "Nick ?" "Hmhmm ?" "Are your eyes   
supposed to be golden?" "Sorry," he purred, "I can't help it. My eyes have   
changed, because my beast is happy." With relief she noticed that his teeth   
were normal but she couldn't help asking "Happy ?" "Hmhmm, relaxed, content and  
very very happy." And he purred again as if to prove he was telling the truth.  
It was good to see him this happy, feel him relaxing under her ministrations.  
And it was definitely good to see him without his incessant guilt. Just happy   
and total at ease with himself.  
  
The phone started to ring evoking loud groans from both of them. Reluctantly  
Nick answered. Silently Natalie damned the phone and the caller. It had been so  
wonderful and now that #%!@^! thing was going to spoil the mood. It wasn't  
fair! Nick's face grew serious as he listened to the phone. "I'll come as  
soon as I can." He hung up the phone. "Nick ?" "That was Cohen. They have found  
*another* one." Natalie shuddered, thinking about the corpse she had autopsied   
just 18 hours before. "Our perp is increasing his tempo. The last one died   
nearly 27 hours ago." "I know. There is not much time until he loses it  
completely." A chill ran down her spine as she thought about the possible   
consequences and then cursed her vivid imagination. She didn't want to see one   
of the shredded ones again. Absentmindedly she scratched her itching hand. Her   
hand. Ooops. She had already forgotten about the incident. I can't work with   
this hand, I don't need to face another one of those right now. Natalie took  
a deep breath. "I think I better call in sick. I can't perform an autopsy using  
my left hand, it would look like a first year med. student had been at it.   
People would think there is more than one lunatic involved, and they would be   
right. Except the other one could be located at the morgue." She felt herself   
blush again and grinned sheepishly. He tried very hard to hide a smile at that   
picture, but he failed miserably. "I'll give you a ride home, OK ?" "Mmmm, will  
you stop by after your shift ?" "I'll come, tell you what has happened and tuck  
you in. Deal ?" She smiled. "Deal." She stood up and gathered her things.  
  
part two Sorrows  
  
The crime scene was crawling with cops when he arrived. He searched the sea of   
uniforms for his partner. Curious, he still expected to see Schanke hanging   
around. But the Schankes had moved to Calgary two months ago. He spotted her.   
She was almost as pale as he was, but with a slight greenish tint. After   
spending some time with Nat in the morgue, these past few months, she wasn't   
normally that squeamish anymore. This body had to be worse than the others.  
"Tracy, you alright ?" She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths.   
"Just give me a couple of minutes, OK ?" "OK." He walked over to take a look at  
the body. It was worse, in fact it was one of the worst things he had ever  
seen in his life. It didn't resemble a human being. Except for the occasional  
bone or body part, that could still be identified as such. This was human   
debris. Like a gigantic puzzle of blood, bone and tissue, what was left of it   
anyway. He searched for the coroner on duty and found him, retching in the   
gutter. Then he noticed the vans. Better and better he thought, as he spotted  
the TV logos one of the worst possible crime scenes and now we have to look   
out for the newsvultures as well, great. Tracy approached him. "Is it just me   
or is this the worst crime scene you have ever been too ?" "It isn't just  
you. Believe me, it is one of the worst things I've seen in my life" And   
that's saying something with what I've seen. Tracy sighed. It didn't make it  
any better to know that it wasn't her imagination. No, it only made it worse.   
"Come on, let's start the show." She looked at the grim face of her partner.  
"And wipe that look off your face. You look like you want to bite someone."   
Nick flinched. If only you knew, Tracy. If only you knew. he thought as he   
followed her.  
***  
  
He watched the crime scene, well hidden, far enough away that the inhuman  
one couldn't hear his rapid heartbeat. It had been so easy. He had made his   
strike and it went well. Now all he could do was wait for the changes to  
happen. Soon, very soon the Empress would emerge from her bonds and be born   
anew. She had to be alright. She HAD to be sane. Otherwise he would need the   
mortal female. The inhuman one would follow her. He dejected to take advantage   
at a mere mortal woman to bait his trap. Only in emergencies. He had to wait.   
And he had to be prepared for the inhuman one, he was the key.  
  
***  
  
Natalie sat on her couch, Sydney purring in her lap and munched popcorn. She   
stared at the TV-screen, at her favorite movie, but her mind was elsewhere.  
In her mind she played the scenes of the last twenty-four hours over and over  
again. The body, the bite, flying, falling asleep in his arms, watching him   
helplessly caught in a nightmare, waking up to his purrs. She couldn't help but  
smiled as she remembered how happy he had been. He was happy, the vampire part  
of him was happy. So happy and relaxed that he didn't push her away as his eyes  
changed. And it had felt so right. She counted the minutes until he would knock  
at her door. Only two hours left. 'Only', Ha, with each second like an eon it   
would be two very long hours. And she longed to see him again, longed to melt   
in his arms and hear his single one-every-ten-minute-heartbeat. One hour and   
fifty-nine minutes. She starred at the TV-screen.  
  
***  
  
His children were hungry again. But tonight he couldn't give them what they  
wanted. Tonight they had to be content with some frightened animals. It wasn't   
the same, but it had to be enough, for awhile. He couldn't risk exposing   
himself, or his children, his beautiful children would die. They couldn't live  
without him. They were so wonderful, animalistic and strong. Yet, they had lost  
their human sanity. All, but one. And he now understood why. Just as he   
understood what must be done. At this moment, all he could do was wait. Wait   
for the Empress to made the changes. He heard the wails of his children. Time   
to feed.  
  
***  
  
"Knight." He heard the tired tone in the captains voice. "Yes, captain?" "I   
want you and your partner to concentrate only on these 'beast-murders'. All the  
other cases are backlogged until... " she let the sentence trail off. He   
would know what she wanted to say. Until you catch him or the media started to   
forget. "Got it, captain." He tried to smile, but he was tired and he couldn't   
stop recalling the picture of the body. She noticed that his smile never   
reached his eyes. He was the picture of a man exhausted. The last few weeks had  
been hard for all of them, but nobody had earned as much overtime as Knight. He  
had worked form dusk 'til dawn, every day. She was pretty sure that he would   
have stayed through the dayshift as well if there wasn't that mysterious   
sun allergy of his. And now these brutal murders and the animal attack on Dr.   
Lambert. Any other man would be a wreck just now and even his legendary   
concentration had started to crumble. "Go home, Knight. It won't do us any good  
if you collapse from sheer work overload." She was right. He knew she was right  
and he yearned for sleep, but there was something he had to do first. A promise  
he had to keep.  
  
***  
  
His children hadn't fed well this night. They were wailing for more. But he  
couldn't give them what they wanted. Soon they would start fighting again. Soon  
there would be another corpse for him to bury, another dead child for him to   
mourn. They needed help. His children needed help, more help than he could   
give them. It was all his fault. His children were dying and it was his own  
fault. He sat in the darkness, musing and waiting, alone.  
  
***  
  
There was a soft knock at the door. Natalie sat up, startled. When had she   
fallen asleep? She looked at the TV-screen. Blank. Slowly she went to the door.  
Her body ached, she had to have been sleeping in the wrong position. She   
opened the door. Nick. He looked tired and weary, but he smiled as he saw her.   
A tired and sad smile. She let him in, closed the door. "Nick, what's wrong ?"  
He sat down on the couch. "It was a very bad night." She sat next to him. "How   
bad?" He looked her straight in the eyes. She saw the look of horror and utter   
revulsion in his eyes. It had to be bad. "I have seen so many horrible   
things in 800 years, Nat." He clasped his hands in his lap, closed his eyes and  
took a deep breath. I have done so many horrible things. "So many things..,"  
he opened his eyes again, "but this, Nat, this was one of the most horrible  
things I have ever seen in my whole life." Oh my God! Natalie stuffed a hand  
in her mouth as she realized just how bad the scene must have been. Now she  
knew why he was so weary. She pulled him closer to her. Normally he was the  
one, who held her, comforted her, after a bad night in the morgue. But she   
hadn't seen the body, the scene tonight, but he had. "I don't understand, Nat.  
Why do mortals do such things? Why do they have to do it?" Despair tinged his  
voice. She had no answer for him, because there was no answer. He longed for a  
life as a mortal, to be free from the urge to hunt, to kill, only to see  
mortals kill mortals, without reason. Night after night. He couldn't  
understand. Raw emotion played in his eyes. Natalie watched him thoughtfully.   
Sometimes the ancient vampire seemed to her more innocent, more human, than   
humans themselves. Although he would sharply deny any human qualities in   
himself. All she could do now was hold him and let him feel that he wasn't  
alone. Nick needed to hold her, to be held by her, his rock, his anchor of   
trust in an insane world. He needed her, he didn't want to be alone anymore. A   
small warm body climbed on his lap and began to purr madly.  
  
***  
  
Sydney wanted attention and he wanted it now! His mistress seemed to be too   
absorbed to pay attention and he couldn't reach her lap. But the lap of the   
male one, well that was a totally different story. His mistresses friend was a   
bit cold and he smelled funny, but that was no reason not to curl in his lap,   
at least not for him. Yes, he was right. As soon as he had made himself   
comfortable in his lap, the friend of his mistress started to pet him. Sydney   
purred with pleasure, he petted very well, very skillfully. Maybe Sydney   
mused, maybe I should keep him.  
  
***  
  
The weight of the cat was surprisingly comforting, Nick noticed. He felt so   
peaceful here. It seemed so absurd. All the peace here, the calm and quiet  
happiness against the horror and madness he had witnessed tonight. He didn't  
want it to end, but his internal clock told him that it was close to dawn.   
He was hungry. "Nat?" She looked up. The blue of his eyes were sprinkled with   
small whirling golden dots. "I have to go, Nat." Yes, he had to go. She knew   
that. He was tired and hungry and a quick glance at the clock told her that   
dawn wasn't far away. If he didn't go now, he would be trapped until dusk. And   
she knew how very difficult it was for him to control the vampire around her,   
especially when he was hungry and exhausted. Reluctantly she released him from   
her arms. He hesitated for a moment, then gave her a quick kiss on her cheek.   
"Thank you." "For what?" "For being here, for understanding and for being you."  
She felt the rush of warmth as she blushed. My God, I'm blushing from head to  
toe! Natalie sat there, speechless and watched him go. He turned at the door  
like he wanted to say something, but then he closed the door behind him and was  
gone.  
  
***  
  
The minutes ticked by. Nat sat on her couch until the light of dawn hit her.   
She blinked in the sudden brightness, then she got up and went to the window.   
The warm sunlight seemed to embrace her and she watched the sun rising higher   
and higher, until the fiery ball lit the morning sky in a kaleidoscope of   
colors. She closed the shades. Automatically she went through the task of   
making herself ready for bed. Only after she was lying in bed, securely tucked   
in, did she allow herself to weep.  
  
***  
  
His child was dead. Killed by her brothers and sisters. Killed. Torn. Like a   
rag doll. How long must he wait ? How many children must he bury until he  
could use the vampire to heal them ? How many ? He didn't know. He really   
didn't know. And it tore at him. They were HIS. His children and it was HIS   
fault. How many ? He didn't want to know.  
  
***  
  
Her scent hung on his clothes. He noticed the sweet fragrance as he poured   
himself dinner. Hungry, he was so hungry. Her scent drove him wild, drove him  
over the edge. A low growl escaped his throat as he finished the bottle. He was  
still hungry. More! He needed more! So much more! He reached for another bottle  
and another and another. Only after the fifth bottle did he stop. Finally  
the hunger was gone. Empty bottles littered the floor and he noticed several   
bloodstains on his shirt and some blood sticking to his hands. He went to   
the bathroom. As he washed his hands he automatically glanced in the mirror.   
Feral red glowing eyes greeted him. Blood was smeared over his face and his   
lips were stretched over his fangs. There was not a single spark of humanity   
left in the reflection. The picture was that of an inhuman creature, of   
something evil. A torn whimper escaped him. Then he noticed her scent. Her   
scent still hung on his clothes. Natalie. What would she think about him if she  
could see him now? What would she do? Would she reject him, chase him away like  
the animal he was, like he dreamed in his nightmares every day? He couldn't   
stand his refection any longer. He curled himself into the darkest corner of   
the loft. Trying desperately to hide himself before the truth. But he couldn't   
escape her scent. He drifted into oblivion. Her scent heavy in his flaring  
nostrils.  
  
part three realizations  
  
Tonight he would go out again. Call his companions to hunt. Satisfy his   
children. He wouldn't lose another one tonight. Wouldn't have to bury one   
tomorrow.  
  
***  
  
Natalie slid the elevator door open and cautiously peeked into the loft.   
Everything was dark and quiet. She didn't like to intrude like this, but she   
really had to talk to him. "Nick ?" Nothing. "Nick, are you here ?" No answer.   
Maybe he is still asleep. She switched on the lights. As soon as the lights   
went on, she noticed several empty green bottles scattered carelessly on the   
floor by the refrigerator. He had fed quite heavily, and he hadn't dispose of   
the bottles like he normally did. Why ? Usually he would hide the empties   
before she could see them. She scanned the loft. Something was different, but   
she couldn't put her finger on it. The silence was mocking her, annoying her.   
Then...a soft whisper filtered from somewhere. Where ? Again she looked around,  
trying to hear even the quietest of sounds. There ! She found it, found the   
source of the whispers. A shape in the darkest corner of the loft. Slowly she   
approached it. The closer she came the more she realized it looked like Nick.   
Nick, curled into a tight ball, muttering in his sleep and crying silently.   
Fascinated she watched the blood tears spill down his cheeks. She had never   
seen him cry before. Red stains marked the path of his tears. She also noticed   
the dried blood around his mouth and the bloody and rumpled clothes. She   
stifled a sob of herself. He looked something like an abused and terrified   
child, frightened, helpless and lonely. Her own eyes burned with unshed tears   
as she watched him. His whispers became clearer. "...don't...please don't  
...I need you.. love you...please...please...don't chase me away...please.." he  
pleaded. Natalie backed off to watch him. "No, please....don't.." His voice  
became louder to the point of shouting. "Natalie, please !" And then he  
screamed. A long agonizing animalistic howl of loneliness, which echoed through  
the loft. Natalie was heart broken. His nightmare was to be chased away by her!  
She rushed to him. Maybe it was dangerous, but who cared? He was awake now,  
panting heavily and crying. "Nick ? Nick, it's OK. It's OK. I'm here. Shhh. I'm  
here. It's OK." He buried his head in the curve of her neck, she could feel  
his hot tears drenching her clothes. His body shuddered with sobs, nearly  
convulsing at times. He reached out for her, clung to her in desperate need.   
She let him hold her and he nearly crushed her bones with his tight grip.   
But she didn't protest. She knew he needed her. Her thoughts whirled. He needed  
her ! He loved her ! And his fear of losing her was overwhelming. His scream.  
God, she shivered as she remembered the haunting howl. Finally his sobs quieted  
and he became aware of his surroundings. "Natalie ?" "Shh, it's OK. I'm here.   
Everything is OK." She soothed him.  
  
Nick calmed down. Natalie was here. She was here in his arms. It hadn't been   
real. It had been a nightmare. A horrible, vivid nightmare. She hadn't chased  
him away, hadn't called him by dreadful names. She was here. He wasn't alone.   
New tears welled in his eyes, tears of joy. "Nick ?" "Natalie, you're here."   
The relief was clearly audible in his voice. "Yes, I'm here. I'm here." He   
took a deep breath, inhaling her delicious fragrance and shuddered. Hunger  
overwhelmed him. Although he had fed heavily the previous day, he had lost most  
of the blood due to his crying. And her scent, her body next to his, was more  
than he could take right now. The vampire begged to be released, begged to take  
her, possess her, know her completely. No, please, not now. But his desire   
was too strong and her scent too alluring. With a sob he pushed her away. He   
couldn't stop his fangs from dropping. Every fiber in his body cried out for   
her blood, cried out to take her. NO He used every ounce of self control,   
every bit of strength to keep himself from attacking her. His body trembled  
as he fought to control himself.  
  
Natalie was taken by surprise when he pushed her away, but then she noticed the  
tremor and the tension. His eyes were shut tightly, but she knew the reddish   
light, that illuminated his lashes, came from anger or bloodlust. She saw his   
hands, clenched in fists, his nails digging in his palms so deeply that they   
bled. He was fighting to regain control, not to attack her. And he needed blood  
right now. She ran to the refrigerator, opened it and scanned its contents.   
There were several bottles of cow's blood left, but she ignored them and went   
for his emergency stock of donated human blood. He would need it now. She   
rushed back and pressed a blood bag in his hands. Without hesitation he plunged  
his fangs in the bag and drained it in a seconds time. He let the empty bag   
fall and Nat gave him another one. It was gone as quickly as the first one. And  
still there was no sign of him slowing down.   
  
He ravished one pack after another. Finally he stopped. His eyes remained   
closed, his tension still evident. The reddish glow had disappeared from his   
eyes, but his fangs were still down. He rocked slightly on his heels, still   
unable to regain full control of the beast inside him. Slowly, very slowly, the  
human blood coursed through his body. Taming the raging hunger, but not for the  
overwhelming need to taste her sweet blood. Anyway with the amount of human   
blood in his system, she was safe now. Safe enough for a talk. He owed her at   
least an explanation for his rather strange behavior of the last two days.   
"Nat?"   
  
Her name. So hesitant, so soft. His voice still deep and alluring with the   
vampire's edge, but with gentleness that was uniquely his own. She wanted to   
reach out for him, but his look stopped her. His look and the fangs. He had to   
be really on the edge, when he was unable to retract them. "Please, don't come   
any closer Nat. It is so hard to resist already." What was so hard to resist ?  
What was he talking about ? Her eyes were full of unspoken questions and he  
answered them all. One by one. She deserved to know the truth, the whole truth.  
  
Nick didn't spare a thing. He told her everything. The never-ending hunger, the  
temptations, the kills he had made to quench his burning need and about the  
way a vampire loved. How he felt love, what he needed to satisfy THIS burning.  
Then he told her about his nightmares. How she would find him, cowered over the  
body of his still warm kill. How she would shame him, shout at him, leave him   
forever. His voice nearly broke at this point. His fangs had retracted and she   
wanted so to be near him, she snuggled against him. Then he told her the end of  
his dream. "You know, I normally didn't wake up at that point. After you leave   
me, I come *home*. But this place means nothing to me anymore. Its dark and   
empty and I'm alone. So alone. I go up to the roof and wait for the sun. Its   
rising and I start to smoke and then to burn. Its agony. But the pain in my   
heart hurts far worse. I want to see it, see the sun one last time, but the   
first rays sear my eyes, leave me blind. I am blind, burning and so.. I die."  
  
She sat there, stunned, holding him in a death grip. Stunned with how she could  
affect him. He loved her and yet he fought against his own desires, because   
they would kill her, he would kill her if he succumbed. He had opened her his  
heart, his very soul, trusted in her, shown her all his vulnerabilities. If she  
ever wished to crush him, she could do it, because he supplied her with the   
ammunition. And he would not hold it against her. But there was more. For the   
first time he had revealed everything, all of his secrets, things he had never   
told anyone before. She had to admit that there was more to his life as a   
vampire than she had ever imagined. More than the legends and stories she had   
read, much more than the multitude of Hollywood movies she remembered. For the   
first time he had shown her the whole picture and God, it was vast. She tried   
to assimilate the pieces of information he had given her, but there were so   
many and it was so overwhelming. The blood. It was more than a mere addiction   
like she had first believed. It was his food, his substance and the way he   
sampled life, emotions, everything. And she had tried to cut him from his   
lifeline, had chastised him, when he was backsliding. She had made him feel   
guilty about drinking blood, had treated him like an stubborn addict. Yeah, she  
could try to give up mortal food with the same effects, she needed it, like he   
needed blood. She did a little mental calculating, counting the bags he had   
emptied, the bottles of the former day, his tales of killing *every* night to   
quench the hunger. She compared it to his normally strict intake of cows blood.  
There was only one conclusion. He had been starving. For years. But a vampire   
couldn't die from starvation. His body healed itself so rapidly, that there   
were no signs of starvation. You couldn't see it, but that didn't mean it   
wasn't there. He had been starving for a long long time now and only his   
incredible self control had kept him from breaking. But everyone, mortal or   
vampire, had their own breaking point and from the look of it, Nick had just   
reached his. He simply couldn't go on like this.  
  
She had said nothing, she simply held him tightly, while feeling her own heart   
race. Maybe he had told her too much, maybe she was just realizing what he   
really was, maybe.. . He didn't know what she was thinking about now, but he   
was afraid. Afraid, that she would leave him, afraid that she would urge him   
to go on with their relationship, simply afraid. All he could do now was wait   
and hope she wouldn't cast him out of her life. He needed her, loved her, he   
would even walk into the sun for her if she asked him to. "Nick?" He closed his  
eyes, afraid of what she might say. "I'm so sorry, so very sorry." Her warm  
hand caressed his face slowly. He leaned into the touch. "What could you   
possibly be sorry for ?" "The way I've treated you. I mean I've seen the proof,  
I've seen the genetic changes in your DNA and I was still after you to cut down  
your blood intake even more. And then I was mad at you for not having control.  
God you have been starving for years and I expected you to suppress your   
survival instincts." He knew the tone she used. She felt guilty. Guilty,  
because she had made mistakes. But didn't she see ? No matter what treatment  
she used on him, he would love her no less, because he knew that she cared,  
that she was trying to help him. Nat was still rambling over her mistakes, but  
he didn't listen. It didn't matter. Only she mattered. He took her warm hand in  
his cold ones. "Nat?" She stopped. "Yes?" "Don't be sorry, Nat. You didn't   
know, how could you, I never told you. It doesn't matter now. It's OK, I   
forgive you."   
  
He was forgiving her. All the stupid, cruel and mean things she had done to   
him. He forgave her. How could he forgive her so easily ? "How ?" "How what ?"   
"How could you forgive me so easily ?" He gazed at her like he had never seen   
her before. "Because I love you Natalie Lambert. I can't live without you. I'll  
walk into the sun before I'd let you go." And then he kissed her. Hesitant at   
first, but with growing passion, as she responded to his kiss.   
  
She had waited so long for that kiss. It felt so good. And it was better than   
she had ever imagined it. Their tongues danced. That was it. He loved her and  
it was enough for now. They would find a way to be together. They had to   
because she would never let him go.  
  
***  
  
LaCroix cursed silently under his breath as he watched the two lovers through   
the skylight. This time his son had won and he didn't even know it. Anger   
boiled in him. He had waited so long, nearly 800 years to take revenge for his   
beloved Fleur. But now that he knew his son loved this woman, he couldn't rip   
her away from him. Nicholas had spoken the truth, he had felt it in their link.  
Should there ever come a time when Dr. Lambert stepped from his son's life, he   
knew with all certainty that Nicholas would take his own. Losing his son was   
unacceptable. He had lost Fleur, he would not lose Nicholas. If he killed this  
woman that his son was so hopelessly in love with, Nicholas would die. There   
was no way he could reach his goal without sacrificing his son. He lowered his   
head in defeat. His son had won this battle. A sly smile played on his lips.   
Nicholas may have won this battle, but he was far from winning the war. And as   
silently as LaCroix had come, he vanished into the night again.  
  
***  
  
She never wanted it to end, but eventually she broke the kiss to catch some   
air. It wasn't fair. He didn't need to breath, he could kiss her as long as he   
wanted to, but she had nearly passed out due to the lack of oxygen. "Nat?"   
"Hmmmhmmm ?" "I don't want to spoil the mood, but I need a shower and I have to  
go to work in two hours." She groaned and released him from her embrace. Well,  
he was quite a mess and did need a shower, but work ? No work, Nat decided.   
"Don't go. Call in sick." She pleaded. He considered it for several minutes,   
then an impish smile lit his face. "Well, Dr Lambert, you are my physician. And  
who am I not to follow my doctors orders ?" He said lightly as he reached for   
the phone.  
  
part four waiting in the middle of nowhere  
  
Cohen hung up the phone. So, Knight was taking the night off. 'Mental health   
day' she assumed. It was time. Hell, it was far past time. Ok, one less to   
worry about. Now all she had to do was get Detective Vetter to do the same   
thing and catch Toronto's newest serial killer and she could call it a night as  
well. She tried to think about a way to convince Tracy Vetter to take the night  
off, when she got another call. Vetter was taking the night off. Cohen smiled.  
Sometimes life was good.  
  
***  
  
He had returned home to find the Empress. She had shed her old skin and been   
reborn. Then she had slashed her own throat. Suicide. She had been like  
his other children, insane, but not so demented as to not notice, that she was   
insane. And so it had ended. That changed everything. Now he needed the mortal   
female, the doctor. It would be risky to take her, but it had to be done. He  
needed the vampire. It was his only hope. It was their only hope.  
  
***  
  
They had talked the entire evening. About him, about her, about them. The   
difficulties they would face, when they went forward with their relationship.  
And they would go forward with it, there was no doubt about that. But dawn was  
coming and Nick was tired. Very tired. So she sent him to bed (not that he  
complained) and braced herself for the mess one small hungry, angry ball of fur  
was sure to have made in her apartment. Poor Sydney, she had forgotten all   
about him. Well, now she would face the consequences. She was about to slide   
the key in her look, when she heard a voice behind her. "Miss Lambert ?"   
"Yes ?" She asked and turned toward the speaker only to face complete darkness.  
  
***  
  
She was his now. His bait. He would lure the vampire into his trap and then his  
children could be healed. The vampire would come. Would surrender to his   
wishes. Would do what HE demanded of him. Of this he was certain. He loved the   
mortal woman too much for his own good.   
  
***  
  
The precinct was buzzing like an angry hornet's nest as he walked through the  
door. Something had happened. Nick felt it, emotion so thick you could touch  
it. "Knight, Vetter, my office!" bellowed Cohen's voice. Tracy looked at him  
but he merely shrugged. He simply had no clue what the captain wanted. Amanda  
Cohen didn't waste any time. "Dr Lambert was kidnapped this morning." Tracy  
gasped for air while he just stared at her. It had to be a joke. But it wasn't.  
His gut tightened. If he were human he was sure he would be sick. "This note  
and parcel was sent to the precinct around noon today." Tracy read the note  
aloud. "I have your medical examiner. Do what I ask and she will remain   
unharmed." "We sent a squad car to Dr. Lambert's apartment. After prying her  
door open they found that her apartment had been searched. Then there's the  
parcel." Cohen pulled the package from her bottom drawer and handed it to Nick.  
"We haven't opened it though Forensics went over it for prints and found   
nothing." But Nick didn't hear what she said. He was starring at the package   
and the name on it. His name. "Detective!" "Captain?" "I asked, if you know   
anyone who would do such a thing? Any personal enemies?" Nick's mind wandered   
to LaCroix, but no, this was not his style. "No, captain." Cohen heaved a sigh.  
"I suppose that would have been too easy. Well, then. Open it!" He ripped at   
the package until it popped open. Inside was a letter, and a blouse. Natalie   
had worn this blouse the previous night. He could still smell her scent on it,   
and his as well and then he noticed several bloodstains, his bloodstains, where  
he had cried on her shoulder. But he wasn't the only one who noticed the   
stains. The captain and Tracy saw them as well. "Oh my god! Look at this."   
Tracy exclaimed. "Don't worry. They are mine." Nick tried to reassure her.   
Stupid Nick, really stupid! He thought as both the women stared at him.   
"Well, she spent the night with me and I had a little accident and bled on her   
blouse." Cohen only raised an eyebrow, but Tracy's face nearly burst with   
curiosity. She would ask him questions until he would consider draining her, he  
knew that. But not now, not yet. Now they had to find out what the kidnapper's   
demands were. Nick took the envelope. His name again. He tore it open and read   
aloud:  
  
Knight  
  
I know who you are and what you are.  
Your 'little' friend is in my  
custody. If you want her to remain  
unharmed, meet me at midnight.  
Until then stay at home. I'll   
contactyou. Bring your female  
partner with you but don't use a car.  
If I see anyone but the two  
of you, you can collect your   
'friends' pieces.  
  
Silence. He squirmed uncomfortably in his chair. The letter. Someone knew he  
was a vampire and now the captain and his partner would suspect there was  
something about him that warranted investigation. Some secrets he kept. Great,  
just great. Think fast. He had to give them a reason why somebody would kidnap  
Nat and write such a letter. "Detective ? What does he have on you?" He cringed  
inwardly at the captains question. Then he got an idea. It would work but it   
would made his life much more difficult if he couldn't swear them to secrecy.  
It was better than telling them the truth. He should just get it over with. "Do  
you know my whole name ?" Cohen's eyebrows met the hairline. "Nicholas B.   
Knight. But what has that to do with the letter ?" "Do you know what that B.   
stands for ?" Both women shook their heads. He took a deep breath. Well, here   
we go "It stands for deBrabant." Tracy's mouth formed a neat little 'o' while  
Cohen started to frown. "I think I've heard the name somewhere before." "It is   
the foundation, captain." Tracy bubbled. "The DeBrabant foundation. They are   
big in charity, incredibly wealthy and no one has ever met the owner." At this  
point both looked at Nick, who felt like he could melt into the floor. Damn   
Tracy, couldn't you keep quiet just for once? "Nobody except the financial  
headmaster knows about it and I prefer it remained that way. I like my life  
here just the way it is." Cohen nodded. Wealth could be a burden. And at least   
now she understood why he had been so agitated about the bombing of Charles   
DuChamps. "We won't make it a matter of public report." Tracy looked a little   
bit disappointed, she had wanted to grill her partner for all the gory details.  
"Captain, the letter says that I should wait at home until he or she contacts   
me." he stated. "That's exactly what I plan to do. I'll take Tracy with me. I   
won't take any chances with Natalie's life." Cohen understood his fears and she  
promised him that they would play by the perp's rules.   
  
***  
  
Tracy bounced into his loft. She had never been here before and she was   
curious. Especially after she had learned that her partner was not just an   
enigma but head of the biggest charity foundation of the western hemisphere.  
Nick followed her. It would have been funny to watch her peek in every hole of   
his loft if.. if the situation weren't so serious. He struggled how to tell   
her that her partner was a bloodsucking creature of the night. He sighed. This   
morning life had seemed so promising, and now it was a mess. "Calm down, Tracy.  
I need to tell you something." She turned towards him and he could see the big   
quotation marks gleaming in her eyes. "Something I couldn't tell the captain."   
He definitely had her attention now. He gestured for her to take a seat and   
for once she didn't protest. She looked at him expectantly and he started to   
pace. "I don't know how to tell you this. I've only known you for a little more  
than two months, but on the other side you do know we exist." He trailed off.   
"What are you talking about, I'm not following?" He decided the shock method   
was the best. "Vampires." She was stunned. "You're a vampire?" Tracy couldn't   
believe it. She tried, but she just couldn't picture her straight as an arrow,  
Mr. do-gooder partner with glowing eyes and fangs. "You must be joking!"   
  
He looked at her with a mixture of dread and resignation. "Look, Tracy!" And   
then he began the change letting it sweep him slowly so that Tracy could watch  
it all. She watched in fascination as Nick's eyeteeth elongated into sharp   
inch-long fangs and the blue of his eyes disappeared to be replaced by glowing  
gold. "Do you believe me now?" He asked with the sensual timbre of the vampire.  
Tracy sat stunned into silence. He decided that she'd had enough. As slow as he  
had changed into his vampire mode he now quickly changed back. Then there was  
only the very human weary looking Nicholas Knight, who slumped into the chair  
next to her.   
  
Tracy jumped to her feet. "I don't get it! Why didn't you trust me? You knew   
that I knew about vampires and you never told me!" Her voice became louder and   
louder until she yelled. "Tracy." She nearly didn't hear him, but he stopped   
her with that single quiet word. "I am 800 years old Tracy. I've lived through  
the Spanish Inquisition and the witch hunt. I've been hunted quite a few times  
throughout my life and it wasn't pleasant. Even now, in these modern times   
there are people who hunt us. The more people that know what I am, the more my  
life is in danger. And the same applies for the people that guard our secrets."  
  
That gave her something to digest for a while. He was eight hundred years old.   
Eight hundred! He was older than Vachon or Urs or Screed. And he was her   
partner. A vampire homicide cop. God, just how much control did he have to   
remain unchanged at a crime scene? She could remember a few times when he acted  
a little funny at the bloodier crime scenes and during those times he usually  
disappeared pretty fast for a while and... Mentally she slapped herself.  
All the time, the pieces of information had been right here, under her nose,  
but she never put them together. Somehow it all seemed wrong. Even after she  
had seen him change, after he had admitted it himself, she couldn't shake the   
feeling that he was just an ordinary human being. He was so normal! And he   
was gentle and kind and he really cared about people. It just doesn't fit!   
  
"Tracy? Are you ok?" Here again! He was concerned about her, cared about her  
and sounded a bit scared? She was curious and her mind sizzled with questions.   
Where to begin? "Are you really eight hundred years old?" He leaned back in his  
chair, a little smile playing round his lips. She wanted to play Twenty   
Questions. Just like a cop. Well it was better than her screaming at him or   
searching for the nearest stake. "Well, I was born on the eleventh of march,   
1195, so I'll be eight hundred in a little over a month. But vampires generally  
tend to round up decades or even centuries, so a month more or less doesn't   
matter. Next question?" Next question, God she had hundreds of questions!   
"Where do you come from? What is your real name and how did you become a..  
well.." "A vampire?" Nick finished her sentence. "Well that is an awful long   
story, Tracy. But to begin with your other questions, my real name is Nicholas   
de Brabant. As my name says I'm from Brabant. When I was born it belonged to   
France but nowadays most of it is part of Belgium. I was raised to become a  
knight and I fought in the sixth Crusade. I was wounded, captured, tortured and  
*generously* released after half a year. The church sent me home and on that   
journey I visited Paris, a woman offered me immortality, eternal youth and   
freedom from king and church. After spending half a year in a Moslem dungeon   
that offer was too tempting. She took me to her 'father' and he brought me   
across. They didn't tell me about the negative sides of their, of our existence  
until I had finished the transformation and by then it was too late to go back.  
Does that answer your question?" Boy, did it answer her question! Not only the  
one she'd asked but the next half dozen others she'd wanted to ask him next.   
  
Suddenly something else flashed through her mind. "Why did you tell me about   
this? I have never suspected a thing. Why? Why now?" "I think the one who has   
Nat knows what I am. Look at the letter. How do you think we get to the meeting  
place without a car? I don't think this indicates we should come by bus." "You   
mean whoever wrote this letter wants you to *fly* there?" He nodded. "But what   
about me, I definitely can't fly!" "But I can carry you." He answered dryly.   
Tracy opened her mouth to question his sanity but the phone stopped her. Before  
she could even blink he was at the phone. A male voice told him the location of  
a warehouse on the outskirts of Toronto. Before Tracy knew what was happening   
she was wrapped in his arms and moving through the skylight as he took on   
speed.  
  
part five What would you do out of love ?  
  
She woke with a throbbing headache. She was cold and it was dark. "Where the   
hell am I? And how did I get here?" Light, she needed some light to see where  
she was. She wanted to get up, but couldn't. Whoever brought her here had   
chained her feet to the bed. Her panic rose as the door opened and her unknown   
assailant stepped into the barley lit room. "I see you are awake."  
  
***  
  
Nick burst into the warehouse like an angry whirlwind, dragging a disheveled  
Tracy with him. He stopped and listened. The warehouse was empty. No human  
heartbeat, no tingling sensation which would indicate the presence of one of  
his kind. Nothing. They began their search of the warehouse. In a small room on  
the North side they found a cot, table and a parcel. He stared at it. This one  
was addressed to Tracy, and it had a bonus. Glued to the package was a large  
magnificent crucifix. "Its for you, Tracy." He said with some trepidation.   
Tracy ripped the wrapping away. On top was a letter. She picked it up and   
started to read.  
  
I'm not here, but the entire  
building is under surveillance.   
I'm watching you right at this  
very moment. Miss Vetter the  
contents of the package are  
for you to use on your partner.  
If he does not comply Natalie  
Lambert will die a slow and  
painful death. Use the items on  
him and then leave. Don't try any   
tricks. Remember I'm watching you.  
  
Nick took the package and looked in it. The only items in the bag were a   
liquid filled syringe and a set of mean looking handcuffs.  
  
***  
  
"What do you want with me?" "To use you as bait." "Bait ?" Natalie's thoughts   
started to race. "For whom ?" She slid her hand through her hair, nervous as   
hell. "For your vampire lover." He stated casually. "I need to study the   
genetic irregularities and unusual qualities of his vampire and", the man gazed  
her like a priced specimen, "he will do anything I want to keep you alive."   
After these words he left her alone in the dark room.  
  
***  
  
"Nick, I can't use that stuff on you. He's after you and..." "Tracy, please !   
It's the only way to keep Natalie alive." Desperation had filled his voice.   
"You love her, do you?" "Yes." "But what if he wants to kill you, Nick? Did you  
ever consider that, or would you die for her?" "Yes." His voice was brief and   
firm. For a brief moment Tracy was envious of Natalie. To have someone love her  
so much, even if he was a vampire. But the envy didn't last very long, as she  
remembered they could never have a sexual relationship without him draining  
her. She was in the same boat with Vachon. She looked into Nick's pleading eyes  
and surrendered. "Ok, ok, I'll do it." She took the syringe and the handcuffs  
and followed Nick to the cot. He sat down on the narrow bed and stared to the  
ground. Without looking at her he offered her his wrist and she locked the   
cuff. He closed his eyes almost violently, clenched his hands into fists and   
offered her his other wrist.  
  
***  
  
Her thoughts raced. He knew about vampires, knew about Nick, their relationship  
and he wanted to use her to keep Nick submissive. This couldn't be happening!   
It had to be a bad dream and she would wake up soon. But somehow she knew that  
it was real. And if they couldn't find a way to escape, Nick would be   
imprisoned by this man just as she was. The man might be crazy but he was right  
about one thing. Nick would do anything to keep her safe.  
  
***  
  
Tracy took his hand and felt his muscles tense. A quick click and it was done.   
He opened his eyes staring at the metal bond which kept his wrists together.   
Cautiously he tugged at the restrain, but the cuffs wouldn't give. "Titanium",   
he murmured. "Titanium and curare. He really knows our weaknesses." "This is  
curare?" Tracy looked at the syringe like it was a poisonous viper. "Nick, that  
stuff is lethal! It will kill you!" "It won't." His voice was tired. "You can't  
kill vampires with curare. But it will paralyze me. I won't be able to move or  
even talk for several hours." He tried to roll up his sleeve but he failed   
because of the cuffs. "You're serious, aren't you? You really want to go on   
with this?" "No, I don't *want* to do this. But for Nat's sake I have too." He  
awkwardly pushed up his sleeve and took a deep breath. "Do it!" She felt like a  
traitor as she emptied the syringe into his arm. Almost immediately he went   
limp. This wasn't right! He sat there on the edge of the cot looking like a  
ragdoll. At least she could change that. She struggled to move his body to a   
normal position on the bed. Damn, she wished Nat was here. The coroner would   
know how to move a body to a prone position. But if Nat were here he wouldn't   
be in this situation. She cursed under her breath and walked around the cot.   
She became aware that his eyes were tracking her movements. "Nick? Are you   
awake?" She asked. He blinked in reply. God, he was awake, and aware of what   
was happening around him! But he wasn't able to react. That had to be living   
hell for him!   
  
It had been quite some time since his last 'contact' with curare. He had   
ingested it unknowingly with a great amount of alcohol. He had been more   
intoxicated and lethargic than paralyzed. But this felt different. This time   
the curare was injected directly into his bloodstream and he would bet a months  
salary that this was stronger and purer than the stuff the bounty hunter had   
slipped him in the whiskey. He wasn't able to move his limbs. His brain   
delivered the commands, but his muscles weren't listening. The only thing he   
had control of were his eyes. He could see what was happening around him. Right  
now he was watching three men closing in on Tracy. He tried to warn her but she  
didn't understand his furious blinking.   
  
Tracy went out like a light.   
  
If looks could kill the three men would have been dead after the first glance  
as he stared at them with golden hued eyes. But they merely smiled as they  
blindfolded him and took him away.  
  
***  
  
Tired, he was so tired. They were driving him through the city, changing roads  
apparently every second like they had no destination. At least it appeared   
that way to him. He was sure they had injected him with another dose of curare.  
He was so tired and he wouldn't be able to do anything for the next few hours.   
He fought against his fatigue. He had to stay awake or he would never discover  
their destination. His eyelids felt so heavy. He was just so very tired.   
Perhaps five minutes to rest his eyes. Before he realized it he was asleep.  
  
***  
  
Streetlights shown over the body of Tracy Vetter. As she started to come too.  
Every muscle in her body screamed for attention, even a few she hadn't heard   
from before. Her brain kicked in, but was begging for one or two quarts of   
coffee. Something's wrong. Her mind was groggy but she *knew* something was   
wrong. Nick, where's Nick? Suddenly she was wide awake, as adrenaline surged  
through her system. She remembered the kidnapping, the letter, Nick helpless on  
that cot and then...she touched the back of her throbbing head and discovered   
several bumps that didn't belong there. Ohhh God that hurts, she groaned as   
that part of her brain responsible for pain suddenly flared to the forefront.   
Painkillers and coffee. I'll need large quantities of both to get through the   
day. Her partner was missing, kidnapped by some unknown nutcase. It would   
also be a safe bet to assume that Nat hadn't shown up either. She had a   
terrible headache, wasn't sure of her location and she didn't know what to tell  
the Captain. A phone would be nice, right about now. She reached out for her  
cell phone. It was gone. So she set out in search of one.   
  
***  
  
How long had he been gone? She was really hungry so she had been left alone for  
hours. Not that she would complain but she was still chained to the bed and she  
needed to go to the bathroom. The door opened and two new men came in. One  
released her from the chains and the other pressed the cold metal of a gun  
against her lumbar spine. "May I use the bathroom please?" The men said   
nothing, but complied with her request, taking her to small bathroom while they  
waited outside. Then they escorted her to a well furnished study and indicated  
that she take a seat before exiting the room. She heard the door lock from the  
outside.   
  
After some time one of the men returned with a tray of food. He set it on the   
table and left. Again the door was bolted. The food smelled delicious and she   
was half starved so she didn't wait for an invitation. She started to eat. She   
didn't hear the first man slip into the room. He waited until she was finished   
before he spoke "We have captured your vampire lover, Miss Lambert." Natalie  
started at the sudden voice and flinched as she heard what he was saying. They  
had Nick! Because they had used her as bait. How dare they! "If you behave, we  
will let you see him. He should be waking soon." Natalie nearly exploded at his  
impudence, but she forced herself to stay calm. She really wanted to, no she  
needed to see him! The man watched her battle her emotions and as she calmed  
down he opened the door and guided her through a corridor. At the end of the  
hall he unlocked a heavy metal door and opened it for her. She entered and  
gasped. The room was big. Divided evenly into two areas. One side of the room  
was a lab the other side.. was a cage! Nick lay spread-eagled on a heavy metal  
table on the lab's side of the room. She didn't need any explanations to know  
who the cage was for. It was for Nick. The men came forward and pushed her  
toward the cage door. She realized that she had been wrong. The cage was for   
both of them.   
  
After they had locked her up, the three men set about working on their captive  
vampire. Natalie watched with rising fear. "What are you doing to him?" she   
cried recognizing the IV tubing at Nick's throat. "We are taking his blood for  
analysis." The man stated calmly. "You can't do that! You'll will kill him!"   
"I seriously doubt that it will kill him, Dr. Lambert, but even if it should we  
shall still proceed. After all, he isn't even human." Without further   
discussion he made a few last minute adjustments and Natalie heard the   
mechanism hum to life. Her worst fears were realized at the sound of motor. She  
didn't have a clear view, but she didn't need one either, she could recognize   
the sound of a suction pump when she heard one. Holding on to the bars of  
her cell, she slid to her knees. They were going to drain him of every last  
drop of blood.  
  
***  
  
Nick awoke from his sleep due to pain. Intense pain! He had tried to move but   
couldn't. Maybe the curare was still working but he didn't think so, as he   
could scream. Even as he knew they were his own screams that echoed throughout  
the room, his mind refused to grasp it. The agony was too great to accept sight  
or sound, even those sounds that issued from his own throat. God, it hurt too  
much, (he would accept death willingly if only it would stop) God, please make  
it stop....let it end And with these thoughts Nick fell into the light.  
  
***  
  
LaCroix woke with a start. Nicholas was being tortured, his son was in agony!   
His mental screams were almost more than the ancient could endure. The sun was   
up but that wouldn't stop him from going to help him. He concentrated on the  
link to find Nicholas' location, his son didn't know where he was, but it   
didn't matter, he would follow the pain to its source. Nicholas was becoming   
weaker and his pitiful mental pleas for help hurt him even more than he would  
ever admit. He had to find him! He raced to the sewer tunnels blindly   
following the continuing pain that echoed in their link. Suddenly the link   
vanished. He tried to push into the eight century old connection but there was   
nothing. An empty void. This could mean only one thing. Nicholas was dead, his   
son was dead. LaCroix closed feral red eyes and released his own scream of   
agony.  
  
***  
  
Nick's screams had ended long ago. Natalie knelt next to his limp form. Her   
face wet with tears. After the three 'scientists' were done with him, they had   
tossed him into the cage with her. He was so silent, so still. His wounds   
weren't healing and he felt ice cold, even for a vampire. " Nick, I love you.   
Please, don't leave me", she sobbed into his unhearing ears.  
  
part six stairways  
  
He stood on a stairway. A stairway so gleaming white that it hurt his eyes.  
Several steps ahead was a door made out of warm polished wood. Where was he ?  
How did he get here ? Then he remembered. The shock, the pain of being drained  
forcefully, his screams and then the light. He was dead. He had to be. What   
else did he know about this situation? He was standing on a vast stairway in  
front of a door. A door he suddenly had the feeling he should know. Yes, he  
knew it, knew what was behind it. Home, his home. He started toward the door,  
but doubt stopped him. Was he worthy? Was he forgiven? Could he enter the   
afterlife or did he have to stay outside? Slowly he went closer to the door.  
The polished surface acted like a mirror. He could see himself very clearly.   
The glowing eyes, the fangs, they were still there and quite obvious. He tried   
to change back, to hide behind his human facade, but he couldn't. The signs of   
his vampirism were permanently embedded on his face. His soul wasn't human, he  
wasn't human, even in death. He looked at the door longingly, then turned   
around and started back to the stairs. He wasn't human, he didn't belong here.  
There was no peace here for creatures like himself.   
  
"Nicholas, my son, where are you going?" Nick stopped at the sound of the   
voice, but didn't turn around. He knew the voice. He hadn't heard it in 775   
years but he would always recognize it! "Father?" "My son, where are you   
going?" He hung his head in shame. How could he tell his own father what he had  
become? That there was no place for him here because of what he was? Suddenly   
strong, warm arms encircled him and turned him around. A hand placed under his   
chin gently tilted his face upwards. Nick wanted to run, he wanted to hide, but  
his father's arms wouldn't let him go. The only thing he could do was close his  
eyes so he didn't have to see the look of disgust on his father's face, when he  
realized what he had become. "Nicholas." The voice was soft and gentle, not the  
accusing harsh tone he had expected. "Nicholas, open your eyes." He opened his   
eyes and hesitantly looked in the eyes of his father. There was no ire, no   
hate, no disgust in his eyes, only love and understanding....and compassion.   
"It wasn't suppose to be this way my son," he heard his father say before he   
was embraced by him. "But..I..I... don't understand," Nick stammered. He could   
remember his father's lessons about unholy creatures quite well. In his   
father's eyes he had to be some sort of monster. A monster of his own making.   
Why was his father not repulsed by his appearance? "Come, sit down my son. We   
have a lot to talk about."  
  
***  
  
She had closed his eyes because she couldn't endure his unseeing stare. Like a  
corpse, he had stared into nothing. His skin was pasty white and she hadn't   
registered a heartbeat in over thirty minutes. There had been nothing. As a   
coroner she knew all the signs of death. But he couldn't be dead. He had to be  
alive she had too much to tell him. All the things she had thought there   
would be time enough for.... He is a vampire, he is immortal, so she had   
thought, but now... She had cried until she had no more tears. Soaked his face  
with the salty drops. It had been a long time since her last real prayer but  
the words poured effortlessly from her lips. She prayed for him to be alive, to  
stay with her. She had never really told him about the depth of her love for   
him.   
  
***  
  
He sat down on the stairs next to his father. His father seemed nervous, like   
the time when he had questioned him about Adam and Eve. But that was a long   
time ago, he had been three or four years old then. Why should his father be   
nervous now? "You must know my son, when you were born something happened that   
never should have happened." Nick looked at him questionably. "My son, you were  
never meant to be... human." He stared at his father in disbelief as the   
message hit home. Never meant to be human! How was this possible? Was it   
possible? How..? Why..? What did it mean? Maybe this wasn't the passage to   
afterlife. Maybe he was in hell already... . "I know it sounds unbelievable for  
you, but it is the truth. You should have been a vampire right from the   
beginning." "But that's impossible!" His fathers eyes told him different. "Why?  
How..?" "What do you remember from before?" "Before I became a vampire?" "No,  
before you were born."   
  
***  
  
It had been an hour now. A full hour of waiting, praying and hoping against all  
odds. There had been no sign that there was still life in his unmoving form.  
She had curled up beside him, laying her head on his cold and too silent chest.  
Maybe he was really dead, but she couldn't allow herself to think like that. A  
fresh crop of tears began. She didn't think she had anymore left. She was   
wrong. Not a single heartbeat had resonated through his chest. She knew that,   
she had waited for it. Maybe she should wait a little while longer. Maybe with   
such a great blood loss it slowed his system down to almost nothing. It was a   
single thread of hope, and she clung to it beyond all reason.  
  
***  
  
"Before I was born? But I didn't exist before I was born." "That's not true.  
This life is not your first one. You had a very long life before. You just   
don't remember." A life before! He tried to understand it, but his imagination  
failed him. His father's hand brushed against his forehead. "Maybe its time for  
you to remember," he heard his father say before his world exploded.  
  
***  
  
How long had he been floating, caressed by memories? He didn't know. Didn't   
care. There had been so much. So many memories pushing at his mind which wanted  
to be remembered, so much knowledge that needed to be noticed, which would be   
known. Eight hundred years had seemed a long life before. But now.... He  
remembered it all. And in remembering knew he couldn't stay here. He glanced to  
his father. His father, not in the traditional mortal way of thinking but his  
father nonetheless. "What happens now?" he asked. The Father smiled. "At the  
moment you go back and right the things that went wrong." "But Father, I'm not   
the same as I once was. I'm only eight hundred years old. No one will listen to  
me. And even if they do they won't believe me. We have been too influenced by   
the stories the world has made of us." The smile never left the face of the   
Father as he heard his son's worries. He waited patiently until his son was   
finished. "Nicholas, you worry too much," he chided softly. "You will be sent  
back to your *new* body but it will be like you've never died. Not the first  
time and not the second. You are still the first and you will always be it. And  
I'll give you a sign, proof that what you are telling them is true. They will   
believe you." He stood up and reached down to help his son up. "Father?" There   
was one thing Nick needed to know before he could go back. "Yes, my son?" "Will  
I.. will I ever be able to see the sun again?" "You really miss it, don't you?"  
the Father asked but he didn't need an answer, the longing look in Nicholas'   
eyes was all he needed to see. Nick simply nodded. "Then I'll give it to you   
and to your future children." The Father smiled broadly and patted his   
shoulder. "Take it as my wedding present." And with these words Nick fell   
through the light.  
  
***  
  
Three hours. He had been gone for three hours now. There had been no   
improvement in his situation. Slowly she started to lose hope. Even he wasn't  
indestructible like she had first believed. Suddenly his body was surrounded  
by a faint blue glow. God, NO!. The last time she had seen that particular   
glow had been before her brother turned into ashes. She pushed herself away   
from him and clenched her eyes shut. A small sob escaped her. She couldn't do  
it, couldn't watch his body dissolving into ash.   
  
Silence. It was far too silent. And then she heard a cough. A weak little   
cough, but a cough nonetheless. Hesitantly she opened her eyes and met Nicks.  
He was alive! He was awake! She rushed to him. "Nick?" "Nat." Weak, he was so  
weak, he barely could move his lids at all and he needed blood very badly.   
"Nat, I need ..." He didn't finished the sentence. She knew what he needed.   
Natalie looked around, but there was no blood for him in the cell. The only   
available blood was her own. She made her decision. She had nearly lost him   
today and she would never let that happen again! Natalie helped him to a   
sitting position and then guided his mouth toward her neck. He noticed what  
she was doing. If she had offered this before he had learned everything today  
he would have denied himself the much needed substance. But now...now all he   
needed was Nat's permission to go on. "Nat, are you sure?" She didn't answer,  
she just pressed his face tighter into her neck. And softly, almost like a  
caress, he slipped his fangs in her jugular vein.  
  
***  
  
It was much more than she had ever expected, ever imagined. He had told her  
about the emotional aspect of drinking blood but she had never thought it would  
be like this. His whole life exploded in her mind. What he had done, what he   
had felt, everything. His pain and his joy and his feelings for her. It was   
wonderful. She could fell his love for her, it was so strong and warm, so   
right. Surrounding her like a cocoon. The pictures slowed and then the world   
around her went black.  
  
***  
  
Her blood exploded on his tongue, a cornucopia of flavors. So much more than  
her blood scent had implied and even that had driven him half mad at times. Her  
life opened up before him. Her childhood, her family, her brother, Richard,  
she felt responsible for his wrong doings and his death. Her betrayal still   
hurt. Then he saw himself so prominent in her memories. From their first   
meeting in the morgue to the developing friendship and then their love, her   
love. It was washing through him, filling his veins with joy, singing in his   
mind. Her love for him made her blood so sweet, so unforgettable he had never  
tasted anything like it before. It had made it hard for him to stop, but he   
did. Now she was at the brink between life and death. He tore his wrist open  
and let his blood drip into her mouth. "Nat, I love you. I need you. Please  
come back to me."  
***  
  
Natalie blinked at the sudden brightness. The desert. She was standing in the  
desert by the lake. Just like Nick had described it. And there was the door.  
The door into the light and the guide. She walked towards it. The guide, he   
looked like.. "Grandfather, is that really you?" The guide smiled. "It's me and  
it's not me. You have to accept the answer. It is the only one I can give you."  
For a brief moment she felt like she was three years again and he was   
explaining her the multitude of miracles around her. "I have a choice here,  
right?" "Not really. Deep in your heart you've already chosen your path. I'm   
just here to wish you luck." She could hear Nick's voice calling to her. Her   
grandpa was right. She had already made her choice. Out of reflex she hugged  
her grandfather one last time. "Thank you, Grandfather," she smiled as she  
waved him goodbye and then walked back to the darkness and into her new life.  
  
***  
  
He was a bit worried that she would choose the path into the light instead of  
coming back to him. Yes, he had tasted her love for him and there was his   
father's cryptic message but he couldn't stop himself from worrying. A gentle  
and then a more insistent tugging at his wrist told him that Nat was back and  
that she was swallowing his blood into her half starved system. He let her  
drink until she reached her limit then he watched her as she fell into a deep  
sleep. She would sleep the whole day now, finishing the changes that had   
already begun to take place in her. And she would need lots of blood when she  
awoke this evening. Lots of blood that he didn't have. A door was opened and he  
looked up to see a man entering the room. The man crossed the room and stopped  
in front of the cage. Nick waited. "You have brought her across," the man   
stated. "Yes. It's not like you left me with much of a choice. It was that or   
kill her." Why deny it, his captors had known enough about vampires in general   
and him specifically to keep him caged here, he should know the signs of a   
newly converted vampire. "How much blood will you both need?" Nick   
absentmindedly stroked Nat's hair. "She will need at least ten to twelve pints   
to come through first hunger without going mad. I don't need that much. Six to   
seven pints should be sufficient for me." The man left without any further   
words. A short time later a small door was opened and a cold box was shoved   
into the cell. He opened the box and eyed it's contents. The box was filled to   
the top with units of whole blood. More then he or Nat would need for today. He  
closed the lid of the box. The implied message was clear. His captors didn't  
plan on releasing them soon.  
  
part seven The sign of the Father  
  
It was sometime around noon and Nick was so restless that he couldn't even   
think about sleeping. First he had checked the cage for a way to escape, but he  
didn't find one. This cage was designed specially for vampires. He paced   
restlessly inside cell, careful not to disturb Natalie's transition. He felt   
strange, like something was wrong but he couldn't put his finger on it. His  
pacing grew faster and then suddenly a vibration struck him. It wasn't an  
unpleasant sensation. More like a tickling where none should have been. He fell  
to his knees as he lost his balance. He heard his shirt ripping and instantly  
an intense itching began on his back. And his scalp was crawling too. The   
vibrations were very unsettling. It was driving him mad! As suddenly as it had   
begun it stopped again, only to be replaced by the feeling of raw energy  
pulsing through every fiber of his body. It felt strange, but good, like   
something was returning to him, something he hadn't even realized was missing.  
Memories, knowledge and links were woven into his mind, layer after layer until  
he couldn't stand the emotional onslaught anymore and blacked out.  
  
***  
  
The day had passed and he had sat, contemplating and remembering. He hadn't   
slept or fed, he had done nothing since he had felt the death of his son.   
Nothing, except remember Nicholas and all their times together. The good and   
the bad. He had sired many others over his 2000 years, but he had only   
recognized Janette and Nicholas as his true children. Janette was still there   
but.. without her stubborn fiery brother it wouldn't be the same anymore.   
LaCroix was so consumed by grief that he didn't notice the link reforming   
somewhere at the back of his mind.  
  
***  
  
Nick drifted back to consciousness. The sun was still up so he allowed himself  
the luxury of keeping his eyes closed. He felt good, strange but good. His   
mind felt whole again and he hadn't even known that anything was missing. Then  
he noticed that something *was* gone, but he wouldn't miss it at all. His  
bloodlust, the gnawing hunger, the urge to kill, had all vanished like they had  
never been. The vampire was still there but more centered, focused. His  
powers all submitted to his will. No, that wasn't true. After what he had   
learned today he knew that the vampire wasn't part of him but he was the   
vampire. Pure and simple. Complete with a human facade so not to scare the   
humans. He nearly drifted back to sleep, but fought back the fatigue. After   
several minutes he opened his eyes but saw nothing. He did see something but  
couldn't believe what he was seeing. Hair. A veil of blond hair was blocking  
his vision. It had to be his own hair but it had never been this long before.  
So that was what the itching feeling on his scalp had been. His hair growing at  
an unusual speed. He jumped on his feet. Or tried to but stumbled because his   
center of balance had been shifted. Seriously shifted. He fought with his hair   
and his lack of balance and finally got to his feet. He had to know what had   
happened. If his scalp had been itching because of the rapid hair growth, then   
what had happened to his back? The itching there had been longer and more   
severe than on his head. He barely noticed the shreds that once had been his  
shirt as he craned his head to look his back. Oh, no! Father what have you   
done? What could you have been thinking? This was obviously Father's promised   
proof. A very obvious proof indeed. He glanced over at Nat. She had them too,   
only her sweater thankfully stayed half intact. He sighed. Now their lives   
would become really complicated. Next to impossible in fact. How could they   
explain *this*? This was far too obvious to hide. How could he tell LaCroix or  
Tracy or the Captain? What would become of their lives? He slumped back to the  
floor. With sundown about two hours away he had some time to think of some  
really good explanations as to why he and Nat suddenly had wings. Come to think  
of it, what was he going to tell Nat?  
  
part eight rescue  
  
The sun went down and Natalie woke with a burning hunger. It hurt! It felt like  
her gut was on fire! She gasped for air. Something was thrust into her field  
of vision. It smelled good, tasty. Hunger! Blindly she grabbed for it and sunk  
her teeth into it. Cold liquid burst into her mouth. Good, it was so good. She  
swallowed. It soothed the burning ache, but it wasn't enough. The bag was   
empty. Too soon! She needed more! The empty bag was replaced by a full one.  
Happily she started to drink again. She didn't count how many bags she emptied,  
but finally the burning need was sated. She licked her lips savoring the last   
drops and recorded fragments of information from another life. Only bits and   
pieces of that life registered but it had only been one or two drops after all.  
It was the second time she had felt into another's soul, before she had been   
too hungry, too greedy to notice. Slowly she drifted back to reality. Nick was   
hovering over her smiling *that* smile that always melted her inside. "Welcome   
back, Nat." Something was different. Of course something is different, silly  
girl, you're a vampire now. You should have expected that some things would  
change. She berated herself, but the tiny voice telling her that something was  
different that shouldn't *be* wouldn't quiet. Nick moved his head and the   
artificial light picked up the headlights of liquid gold in his hair. His hair.  
Mentally Nat smacked herself. His hair was so *long*, floating around his hips   
and it had been short before... "Nick, how long have I been out?" Please,   
don't tell me it had been a year or longer..   
  
"A day, why?" Natalie stared at him. He followed her stare and realized what  
she was looking at. "This happened sometime around noon. I've yet to get use to  
it myself. And Nat...that's is not the...only thing that's changed." He sounded  
so hesitant, it worried her. Ok, think logically. Something physical happened.  
Hairgrowth definitely. Did my hair grow? She fingered a strand of her own   
hair. It felt so alive and it reached down all her back. Definitely. Ok, but   
there is something else.. She eyed him. He looked pretty much the same...  
except... Something caught her eye. There was something unusual on his back. It  
almost looked like... "Turn around." He gave her an apologetic smile and   
turned. If she had still been a mortal, her heart would have skipped a beat, or  
two or maybe it would have stopped beating altogether. But now... She stared at  
him in shocked silence. Ok, just knowing Nick had opened her eyes to a whole  
new world of wonder. Everyday she was forced into believing pretty incredible   
things but this was simply too much. He craned his head and gave her that   
little boy lost look. She burst into laughter. "What?" He tried to look hurt.   
"Mr. I-have-no-soul-and-if-I-had-one-it-would-be-damned, you look like you've   
just escaped from some angelic painting. I should paint you white and arrange   
you on a little pedestal and you would make a terrific church statue." He   
grinned mischievously. "And what about you?" *That* silenced her. Wildly she   
jumped to her feet, stumbled like he had the first few times and finally found  
her balance. There was something on her back as well but it couldn't be.. she   
craned her head to look at her back.... "Oh, my....! This isn't happening. It   
can't be!"   
  
***  
  
He began the process as soon as possible. Soon everything would be OK again. He  
had watched the vampire bring across the mortal doctor, had recorded it with   
hidden cameras, he knew exactly what must be done. The struggling of his insane  
child fighting against bonds she couldn't break persisted. Her growls and the   
hissing saddened his heart. But she would be sane again. He would bring her to  
the brink of death and take her back with the vampire's blood. The blood would  
heal the damage in her brain, repairing her mind and changing her forever.  
Making her immortal. Then he would repeat the process with his other children.  
Everything would be alright again.  
  
***  
  
They had searched the entire day for even the subtlest clues but found nothing.  
Cohen had sent Tracy home. She was driving them crazy. Although Cohen could   
understand her worry, they didn't need her hyper attitude right now. It didn't   
look good. The warehouse had been almost squeaky clean and the area around it   
was nearly deserted. Nobody had seen a thing. "Captain?" She returned from her   
thoughts. "Yes, Miller?" "There is a man who says that he might possibly have   
seen something." A witness! That would help. "Where is he?" "Outside." Miller   
pointed towards the bullpen. "And I should w..." Cohen didn't listened to her   
anymore. She left her office and...was immediately pinned to the ground by a   
huge Bernese Mountain dog slobbering over her face. "..warn you, Captain, he  
has this huge playful dog." Miller finished her sentence. "Nyko, come here."  
The man said and the dog released her. She stood up, wiped the drool from her   
face and tried to regain her dignity. She eyed the man. He was old, with traces  
of white hair left, his age made him appear fragile. But although he looked   
worn he was quite agile and very talkative. He told them about his wife and how  
she had died suddenly four years ago, shortly before their 51st wedding   
anniversary. His children bought the dog for him, because they didn't want him  
to feel lonely. But he missed her nonetheless and often when he couldn't sleep,  
he would go out for a walk with Nyko. Like last night. It had been such a clear  
and beautiful night and he wasn't afraid in the dark, Nyko was always with him,  
so he had walked through the warehouse area. He had noticed the van and grown   
suspicious because it was around midnight. Three men had dumped something in   
the back of the van and drove away. "I suddenly became so tired, you know   
sometimes these things happen to me but the doctor said I'm eighty-one and   
things like that are to be expected. So I went home and barely made it to bed.  
When I woke up I called you folks." This was good. The man was a witness that   
every policeman dream of. Not only did he give them a description of the men,   
but also the license number. He even knew the make, model and year of the van.  
"You know your vans", the man had commented dryly, "with nine children we   
always had one as our family car." Now they would track them down quickly.  
Cohen started to shout orders, trying to ignore the faithful tail-wagging   
shadow following her. "He likes you", the old man shrugged when she stared at  
it, "He considers you family, he wants to play with you." Well, that had to   
wait. Until they would find Dr. Lambert and Detective Knight.  
  
***  
  
After the initial shock passed, they seated themselves comfortably on the floor  
and he began to tell her what had transpired this day. He was just telling her  
how Father had revealed to him, that he never should have been a mortal. That  
he had had a long life as a vampire before he had been killed and was reborn as  
a human mortal when a soft tugging in his mind interrupted him. He   
concentrated. "NO!" "What happened?" "He's using my blood to bring someone  
across. And that person's mind is damaged. She's insane, Nat! I must stop him!"  
He started to shake a the bars of their cage in a frenzy but it was useless.   
"Nat, I have to stop him." But there was no way out.  
  
***  
  
"Got him!" The plates of the van gave the name and address of Dr. Marcus   
Dasken, Doctor of Genetics, who had lost his medical license and was forced to  
leave his teaching position at the University of California due to unethical   
research methods, four years ago. He lived on the other side of Toronto in a  
sparely populated area. Cohen phoned Detective Vetter. Knight was her partner.   
If Dasken had him in his custody she had a right to be there when they freed   
him.  
  
***  
  
A little red alert light started to blink. The police had accessed his computer  
data. Somehow the cops had found him. How? He had been so careful. Nervous he  
scratched his balding head. How long before they got here? He needed to gather  
his children and the precious blood needed to repair their sanity. He needed   
somewhere safe. He reached for the phone.   
  
***  
  
He rested his head against the bars, his eyes feral red, growling in anger.   
This man had used his blood to create an insane vampire! And he was helpless.  
"Nick?" He nearly snarled at her in anger as he turned around. But this wasn't   
Nat's fault, she was just as helpless as he was, he tried to calm down. "Nick,   
what can we do?" "Nothing", he growled, "we can do nothing." Her shoulders   
slumped. She hated to be forced into waiting as much as he did, but that was   
all they could do now. Wait for someone to let them out, so that they could   
stop this insanity. And hope that someone would come quickly.  
  
***  
  
The wheels were in motion. They had a search and arrest warrant for Dr.   
Dasken. Now they could go and find out if he was the man that had kidnapped  
Nick and Natalie.  
  
***  
  
They were on their way here! Too soon! He had to leave now, while there was   
still a chance to escape. He looked back as he entered the van. His assistants   
had changed the plate numbers. It had to be enough to escape. His emotions were  
raw. He was leaving his children behind. He could only take the changing one   
with him, his faithful helpers and the blood of the vampire. He could create  
new children, but he felt such turmoil in leaving these. The door slammed shut.  
He started the motor. He wished he had time to check on the vampires. He had   
left them unobserved after delivering their nourishment. His child would need   
someone to teach her in their ways but he couldn't risk taking the vampires  
when there wasn't even sufficient time to rescue his children. Let it go. He  
sighed as they drove away.  
  
***  
  
Tracy gasped as she got out of the car. "God, looks like someone had been   
watching 'Frankenstein' one time too often." Cohen agreed. It was a really   
disturbing house. They knocked at the door. No answer. "The van isn't here."   
Officer Hansen had checked the garage. They forced the door open. As disturbing  
as the house was on the outside, it was worse on the inside. "How twisted do   
you have to be to live here." Tracy mumbled under her breath. That was before  
they found the creatures.   
Buried deep within the house they found a room with soundproof walls. And   
within the room a cage full of snarling, fighting wailing creatures. They   
stared at the horror before them. Was this some genetic experiment of Dasken's?  
This belonged in a horror movie. "Oh God, what has he done?" Cohen heard one of  
the officers whisper. Something stuck her. What did he want with Knight and   
Lambert? She looked at the madness before her and prayed they were ok.   
  
***  
  
Nick was pacing restlessly, emitting low frustrated growls now and then. He   
wanted desperately to do something. He concentrated on the new link. The insane  
woman was changing too rapidly. Soon she would wake, mad and hungry, somewhere  
in the city. Lives would end because of her and in doing so she would endanger  
the discovery of their entire community. He stopped. What about him and Nat?  
They didn't appear entirely human anymore. Were they breaking the code? Somehow  
he doubted it. They may not look completely human anymore but the last thing   
someone would assume was that they were vampires. Fathers gift of the sun would  
be a bonus as well. Suddenly the door to the lab burst open and Cohen, Tracy   
and several police officers poured into the room. He retracted his fangs and  
let his eyes turn blue. They had found them. Now they would be freed and could   
hunt down this woman before the damage was done.  
  
***  
  
They came farther into the room and stopped short. The sight was too fantastic.  
Tracy's jaw nearly hit the ground. "Nick? Nat? That you?" "Tracy, what took you  
so long?" Nick forced himself to ask lightly. "We expected you sooner." God,   
how could he make jokes about this? Tracy asked herself. She hadn't recovered   
from his first surprise, hadn't digested the knowledge that he was a vampire   
yet and *boom* he came with another one. And Natalie, too. She eyed her   
suspiciously. Was she a vampire, too? She suspected it. Damn, am I surrounded   
by mythological creatures? "What happened?" "That's a long story Captain and   
we have not much time. He used us to create an insane creature. We must get to  
her before he lets her loose in the city." His voice was urgent. Tracy recalled  
the sight of the other creatures they had found and shivered. If he could cross  
the vampire gene with one of these mad beings, anything could happen.  
  
part nine outsider  
  
It had taken some time to find the releasing mechanism for the cage door,  
precious time, while the van that contained the changeling raced deeper and  
deeper into the heart of the city. The news about the insane creature, on the  
verge of setting loose somewhere in the city had spread fast around the   
officers. Some had seen the insane creatures and could imagine what danger   
potential was being released if they didn't stop them.   
  
***  
  
Nick almost shot out of the cage. He was half way out of the room when the   
Captain called. "Where are you going, Knight?" Reluctantly he stopped. "I've   
got to stop her Captain!" "And how will you find her?" Natalie joined Nick's  
side. "He's mentally linked to her, Captain." Cohen raised an eyebrow at that,   
but didn't say anything. Too many weird things had happened tonight. When this   
was over she would take a long and hopefully boring vacation. She followed the  
two outside.   
  
***  
  
The icy temperature of early February hit them as they exited the house. For  
the first time in many centuries Nick felt the cold. He shivered. Maybe it was   
not such a good idea to go out in the cold without a coat or even a shirt.   
"Nick, here, before you freeze." Tracy handed him his coat. She had found it   
discarded in the lab and was now grateful that she had taken it with her. Her   
partner looked chilled to the bone, she wasn't sure if vampires could catch  
a cold. "Thanks, Tracy." He took the coat and tried to get it on. But he   
couldn't. The wings were stopping him. He couldn't pretend they weren't there.   
It dawned on him that he would have lots of trouble and complications because   
of them. He forced himself to concentrate. He needed some sort of openings or  
slits... With some fast rips he tore two slits into his coat. Finally he was   
able to put it on. Much better At least now he was warmer. He could   
concentrate on the changeling again. He closed his eyes and listened...demising  
darkness and hunger, so much hunger, rattling sounds and sudden movements,   
street lamps passing through, casting shadows, hunger...prey,...nearby.....  
hunger.. He had found her! She was waking, preparing to feed, to kill, to do   
anything to quench the terrible hunger. He had to get to her! Fast!   
Thoughtfully he eyed the wings. Could he really fly with these? Well, there was  
only one way to find out.   
"Nick, where are you going?" "I have to get to her, Nat!" "I'll come with you."  
"No. It is too dangerous for you. You're too young. You need to learn so much.   
If I take you with me now, you could get caught in the hunt and then...then   
I'll lose you." Like your brother. He thought but he didn't say it aloud, she  
understood him just the same. Reluctantly she let him go.  
  
***  
  
It was different to actually fly with wings, but he could get used to it. With  
his senses stretched to maximum he found the signature of the woman quickly.   
But not fast enough. He landed next to the crashed van and opened the backdoor.  
She was feeding on the man who had captured him, ripping him to shreds, while  
she feasted on the warm spurting blood. Two other men were half slumped in the  
front seat of the van, their throats torn out. The woman, no, he corrected   
himself as he eyed her, the young female was a mixture of human and leopard,  
down to the spots of her fur. She was feeding and the waves of madness she had  
emitted earlier where gone, there was only satisfaction that the hunger was  
quenched and a growing awareness. With a sudden insight he understood what the   
man had done and why he had done it. The child was regaining her sanity and he   
hoped that she was strong enough to get through the realization of what she had  
become...and what she had done.  
  
He stepped closer to the van and the girl stopped feeding and looked up. Her  
eyes were golden hues but they changed back to an emerald shade of green. "What  
happened? Where am I and who are you?" She was sane. Sane and scared because   
she didn't know what had happened while she had been insane. "Calm down, child.  
What's your name?" "Rachel", she murmured, "Rachel Allyson." "Rachel listen to  
me, what is the last thing you can remember?" "I..I ran away from home. I had   
to. And then I was alone and it was cold and I was hungry. A man came and asked  
me if I would like a warm place to stay. I thought he was a priest, he had that  
collar you know. He took me with him, gave me something to eat and then he hit   
me with a syringe. That's all. What happened? Who are you?" He took a step   
closer, stepping into the light of a street lamp. "My name is Nick. Nick   
Knight. I'm a police officer." She stared at him. "What are you?" He followed  
her stare. "That is a long, long story, Rachel. And I'll tell you in time, but  
not at the moment." He closed his eyes. How could he tell her? "Rachel there is  
something you should know. The man, who took you with him, he.. used you... in  
some kind of experiments..." She stared at him. "What do you mean? How..?"  
She gestured with her hands and then she stopped, looking at her hands, arms,  
the soft fur growing everywhere. Then she noticed the blood. The blood on her  
hands. Rachel looked down at the mutilated corpses at her feet, at the front of  
the van, stared back at her hands, at the blood slowly dripping from her claws.  
Her eyes were wide in shock. "I've done this." She whispered. "I did this,   
didn't I? I killed them!" She cried. "God, I killed them!" She broke down and  
sobbed. He took her, holding her against his chest and let her cry. She needed   
the release. "Its OK, little one. You couldn't stop it. You didn't know what   
was happening to you. Do you hear me?" She simply nodded. "Then listen to me  
Rachel, what you experienced is called 'first hunger'. I've lived through that,  
too." She looked at him questionably and he answered her silent question with a  
nod. "It is hard to explain, Rachel. The treatment the man gave you made you   
insane and he needed something to make you sane again. He kidnapped me and my   
girlfriend.." That thought made him smile inwardly, what would Nat say if she   
knew he was referring to her as his girlfriend? "..and he stole my blood and   
used it on you. It turned you into a vampire...just like me." Rachel gasped.   
"No, that's not true! It can't be true! You aren't a vampire! There are no such  
things. There can't be..." "Rachel.." She looked up into the face of a vampire.  
"Believe me Rachel." He managed a smile, an odd smile, interrupted by his   
fangs. "It is true. I'm a vampire and so are you." She whimpered. "Rachel...its  
ok, it will be ok." "How..?" She wailed. "I look like a monster, you told me   
that I'm a monster and I've killed. How can life ever be OK again?" He flinched  
slightly at the word monster. He had believed the same thing just several days   
before. At least he had the human facade to hide behind. This girl had nothing.  
"Little one I don't know how to make it OK again, but I know something else.   
You're not a monster, understand? Vampires aren't monsters, just another race."  
He rubbed her back soothingly, feeling her nod against his shoulder. "We are a   
small race, little one, and humans fear us, they make horror stories about us,   
because they don't understand us. They fear what they don't understand, little   
one, and they would hunt us down if they knew that we existed. So our existence  
is a secret. You can never tell a human that you're a vampire, that we exist,  
understood?" Another nod. "Then come with me, Rachel. You've a lot to learn   
now. And I want to introduce you to my girlfriend." "You're taking me with you?  
Why?" "The man who turned you, used my blood. That makes me your father in the   
vampiric way of thinking. And even if I weren't bound to you in that way, I  
know what you are going through Rachel, and I won't cast you out." She was   
silent but clutched to him like she feared he would vanish into thin air the   
next moment. "Ready to go?" Rachel nodded. "Then hold on tight." And he took to  
the air again.  
  
***  
  
Natalie was pacing. Nick was gone for only half an hour, but it seemed like  
eternity to her. Damn, she wished she could use that link-thing, but she didn't  
know how. Distantly she watched forensics covering the scene. Her hand itched.   
Absentmindedly she removed the ace bandage. The wound was completely healed and  
the now useless stitches were making her itch. She borrowed a scissors and a   
pair of tweezers from one of the forensics team. It wasn't a suture removal   
set, but it would do in a pinch. She started to remove the stitches. She was so  
absorbed in removing them, it took her some time before she noticed the stares.  
People were staring at her. She could feel their glares on her. Suddenly she   
felt alone. It was ridiculous. She was surrounded by people, people she knew,   
worked with, her friends even, but she felt like she didn't belong here, belong  
to them. Is this the way Nick feels all the time? A shiver ran down her   
spine. They were staring at her and she wanted to hide. She didn't like this   
feeling. Tracy approached her. "Nat? You OK?" No, I'm not OK, so why don't you  
leave me alone and go bother someone else? Tracy looked at her thoughtfully.   
Nat was very pale and she had that look in her eyes. The look she had noticed   
sometimes when Nick let his guard down. "Natalie, please, don't shut me out."   
"I'm not shutting you out, Tracy. But I've the feeling everyone is shutting   
*me* out! Look Tracy, they are all staring at me!" "Of course they are all   
staring at you, Nat. For goodness sake, you grew wings! That isn't supposed to   
be possible! But it happened and now they are trying to believe in something   
unbelievable."   
Natalie was dazzled. She hadn't thought of that. "Thank you, Trace." "Hey Nat,  
that's what friends are for. To knock some sense in each other." They laughed.  
"But", she lowered her voice, "I want to know. I mean.. I know what Nick is.   
Are you one, too?" "Yes", Nat's voice was equally quiet, "he brought me across   
today. It was the only way. Otherwise he would have died the true death." Tracy  
gasped at the indication. "Trace", Natalie closed her eyes at the memories,   
"Nick was dead for over three hours this morning." "No!" "Yes, he was. They had  
drained his body of every last drop of blood. He.. he died, walked into the  
light. But he was sent back. He was so weak and needed blood desperately. I had  
only mine to offer him. So I gave him my blood and he brought me across in   
exchange. And then, while I was sleeping, this happened." She gestured at her   
back. "Must have been a real shock." "Tell me about it." Tracy wanted to   
answer something, but a soft whoosh of displaced air told them both that Nick  
was back. He approached them, carrying a small figure in his arms. "Nat, Tracy,   
this is Rachel."   
  
part ten: So what happens now ?  
  
She rubbed her forehead and sighed. Her head was killing her. Too many   
questions tumbling through her mind. Too many and they wouldn't keep quiet.  
Couldn't keep quiet until she had her answers. Cohen looked through her office  
window. They were still here. A crowd had been gathering around them. There   
were others who wanted answers, too. But she couldn't wait. She needed her   
answers right now. "Nick, Natalie..." She hesitated first but then... "Can I  
talk to you? In private?" They nodded and made their way through the crowd.  
Cohen closed the office door behind them, eyed them. They were tired, after  
the ordeal of the last days she could expect that. Knight was still carrying   
the changed girl. Rachel had refused to let go of him. She had hidden  
herself even more when somebody wanted to touch her. Cohen could understand   
that. Missing persons had wound up with a match. Rachel Allyson had been   
reported missing three years ago. She had been seven and a half years old when  
she disappeared. So young, too young. Knight had told them Rachel's last   
coherent memories. She couldn't begin to imagine what it felt like to wake up   
to find that three years were gone. Simply gone without memories. To find that   
her body had changed into something different, something strange and that she   
had killed at least three men while she had been insane. No, that was something  
she didn't even wanted to imagine. Rachel had been dangerously near the edge.   
And then Knight had come to her aid. He hadn't judged her but comforted her,   
treated her like a normal person, no she realized, like his own child. He   
understand her.  
And why not, he had been changed too. She looked at the small form in Knight's  
arms. Rachel had curled in a cat like fashion and seemed to be sound asleep but  
she knew that wasn't true. Every time somebody tried to take her out of his  
arms she woke up wailing and wouldn't stop until she felt safe in his arms  
again. He was the only person she trusted. Rachel was afraid, scared about the  
strange new situation, but at least she was sane. She was more lucky than the  
others. Cohen shivered. Forensics weren't finished with the house yet, but she  
had seen enough. Dasken had been a sick mind. The other creatures were changed  
children like Rachel, but hopelessly insane. Maybe they would never find out   
who they were. But they had been children, normal human children once upon a   
time and he had ripped that away from them. That was truly sickening. And the   
worst thing had been that he had feed them humans, living humans, had let them   
tear them into shreds. They had found a sort of cold room with two more   
shredded corpses. The case of the "beast murders" was solved at least. Yes, the  
name did fit. Dasken had truly been a beast. Her thoughts returned to the   
present.   
  
They were waiting for her to begin. "Sorry my mind was elsewhere. Please take a  
seat." It took some awkward moments until they decided to stand during the  
conversation. Back-rests, they discovered, didn't go well with wings. "I don't  
think I even want to know how this," she indicated their changed forms,   
"happened, but I need to know why he had kidnapped you. And what he had wanted  
from you."   
  
Natalie glanced at Nick. What can we tell her ? Stay as close at the   
truth as you could, Nat. It will help you remembering your story.   
Natalie started to tell how she had been kidnapped while opening her apartment  
and about the conversation she had with Dasken (well, most of it). Then Nick  
told how he had been forced to decide between Nat's life or captivity. He   
couldn't say that much about his kidnappers because he had been sedated most of  
the time. Natalie chimed in. "Dasken wanted Nick. He told me that he took me  
as bait for him." "And why did he want you? I don't think it is connected with  
your foundation."   
  
Nick sighed. Cohen was too perspective. Now he had to give her another tiny bit  
of truth or she would start digging. He couldn't have her digging right now.  
"I...have some.. uh...genetic anomalies. I don't know how he found out, but he  
knew about them." "Anomalies ?" "Yes, they spread in my family. My allergies   
are genetically based disadvantages." "He wanted you, because you have genetic   
disabilities? Why do I have trouble believing this?"  
The question made him uncomfortable, but he had to answer her. "We also have   
several positive abilities like nightvision, enhanced hearing and a mental   
link with other family members." Cohen was surprised as he revealed just an   
other secret. How many secrets did that man have? How could she ever trust him  
without fearing he would hide something else before her? "There was nothing   
about it in your personal file." She objected. "No. It's a family secret. We   
never talk about it or admit it. There are too many bad memories. My family is  
very old and those anomalies are old, too. We have lost many family members   
because of curious or hysteric people in the past. Sadly our anomaly fit in   
many legends of the undead, so the people treat us like the undead. Even today   
there are too many who would want to dissect us. The events of the last day  
have shown that it was right to conceal those anomalies." He turned and looked  
out of the office window, unconsciously tightening his grip around Rachel.   
  
Cohen eyed her detective. He had been silent about many things, was carrying so  
many secrets. She should be angry with him, more than angry, but she wasn't.  
She could understand him. He had kept those things secret because he wanted to  
live a normal life. But now his and Natalie's normal lives would be over. The   
changes seemed to be permanent and they were very very obvious. "I can't say   
that I agree with you but I can understand why you've done it. But I don't   
think that you can conceal the changes that happened to you. What will you do   
now?" The two looked at each other, like they were communicating mentally and   
with a start Cohen realized that this was a true possibility. Didn't Knight   
mention that he was mentally linked to his family? And Natalie had said Nick  
was mentally linked to Rachel, but Rachel didn't belong to his family. So   
Dasken had played with their DNA, obviously even with Natalie's. Her suspicion   
grew as they seemed to finish their silent discussion. "Captain, we don't  
know what to do now. This all, it took us by surprise and we don't know what  
was affected by this change. We need some time for us to figure this out." She   
nodded. This was understandable. "How much time do you need?"   
  
Nick's thoughts raced. They would need all the time they could get. He had to   
train Natalie and Rachel and they had to work out how to live with the sudden   
and permanent changes in their lives. He summed up vacation time and all the   
accumulated overtime he could think about. "Uhh.. a month maybe ?" That should   
be enough to teach them the very basics and to discover the biggest changes in   
their lives.   
  
Cohen nodded. She would have approved even if he had asked for a year. This was  
turning their lives upside down and if that wasn't an excuse for some private   
time, nothing was. "What about Rachel?" Rachel looked up as soon as she heard   
her name. Yes, what about her? "I think it is for the best if she stays with   
us." Yes, it would be for the best of the child. Social service would never   
find a foster home for her in her state of being and Rachel didn't trust any   
adult except Knight. The pressing headache seemed to ease a little as some   
things simply fell in place. Cohen promised to send Tracy around with some of   
Natalie's stuff. The two of them had decided to stay at Knight's loft and while  
she wanted some of her stuff, she didn't want to be seen by one of her   
neighbors. Their story would be all over town in half an hour.   
  
"Oh God! Sydney! I've totally forgotten him! He hadn't had food or water for   
more than 44 hours! He must be starving! And he will be absolutely mad at me!"   
A smile washed over Cohen's face. If Natalie Lambert started to worry over her   
cat it seemed to get back to normal after a long weird time. "Actually one of  
the patrol officers took him with her. Laurie Travens, I think you know her.   
Has three or four cats of her own. Figured that he needed some attention and   
brought him with her. Sydney has been here the whole time and my officers have  
spent their spare time by spoiling him." By now the smile had turned into a   
full fledged grin. It had been an interesting thing to witness. Natalie   
released a sigh. She was happy that Sydney was safe and sated but.. she knew   
the guys at the precinct. It was a safe bet that they had spoiled him rotten.  
And now she would have to deal with the aftermath. Syd would be impossible for   
at least a week! Another part of her wondered how she could be so upset about  
that little thing but she somehow knew, that she would cope with the big  
changes easier than with the project of a spoiled Sydney.  
  
***  
  
The elevator door slid open. The loft was dark and the air was slightly stuffed  
from the lack of circulation. Minor problems which could be dealt with easily.  
They opened the blinds to an starry clear night and the chilly frozen air of  
winter carried away the stuffed smell. Natalie released a slightly miffed   
Sydney from the pet carrier to look around at his new accommodation.   
  
Rachel looked around with eyes the size of saucers. That was Nick's home? Wow.   
She didn't know what she had expected, but she did know that she hadn't   
expected this. This was sooo cool. Nick's home was was so huge and strange and  
.... it was sooo different from her home. There were so many unknown things   
catching her eye that she didn't know where to look first.   
  
They settled in front of the fireplace. Nick started the fire with a flick of   
the remote and then succumbed to Nat's thousands of questions. He told them   
about what happened when he was dead and how that would affect them, their   
lives and they started to plan their future. The changes they would have to   
make. They even started to plan the renovation of the loft. It was obvious to   
them that they would stay together. Like a family. Strangely how fast they had   
gotten used to each other, like they had been waiting for each other. They   
cuddled in front of the fire and a deep feeling of happiness blossomed in them.  
They were happy. Simply mind-blowing happy and their happiness didn't stay  
undetected.  
  
***  
  
A tidal wave of joy crashed over him. Who's happiness? He wasn't happy and not  
in the mood to feel the joy of one of his children. Who was so awfully happy?   
The link felt strangely unknown but familiar at the same time. He reached   
out through the link and found.... no, no that couldn't be.... he had felt his  
agony, had felt him dying, unable to reach him in time. It was impossible that  
he should feel his son's happiness right now. It had to be an illusion, an   
echo created by his own mind. And the link felt different. Maybe his grieving   
mind was playing tricks on him. Another wave of joy washed over him. It felt  
too real to be an illusion. Another wave. No, he couldn't stand it any longer.  
He had to find out what was happening, who was sending those feelings. And he   
would stop that sending, even if he had to stake the sender.  
  
part eleven: The truth is sometimes rather hard to believe  
  
He had followed the feelings to his son's loft. Nicholas. But he was dead. He  
had felt it. He couldn't be the one who was projecting those feelings. Or...  
could he? Had he been rescued at the last moment? No, he would have felt that.  
His senses had never failed him before. Voices were coming from the loft. He  
was curious, opened the skylight and entered in his usual fashion.  
  
The loft was in the same conditions like ever, like nothing had changed, but   
that was a lie. He knew that. But also the loft wasn't empty. The fire was   
crackling in the fireplace, and there were three people cuddling in a   
heap before the fireplace. They had covered themselves in big fuzzy blankets   
and they were laughing, a lot. They were vampires, he could feel that, but they  
didn't feel right. Something was different about them, something rather   
strange. And one of them was sending the waves of happiness. He wished they   
would disentangle themselves a bit and just at this moment the head of one of   
them appeared from under the blankets, gasping for air and trying rather   
unsuccessfully not to laugh. It was... "Nicholas ?" The head turned around and   
yes, it was his son, it was Nicholas. He was alive, but he had felt his death!   
What was happening here?  
  
***  
  
Nick, Nat and Rachel had tangled in front of the fire in such a heap, that   
neither was sure which limb was which (except for Rachel, hers were the   
furry ones.), their wings securely wrapped around them like big warm blankets.  
They were having a good time. He had just found out that Natalie, in spite of  
her changed nature, was very ticklish. And now she was repaying him in kind.  
He had thought himself safe, nobody had succeeded in tickling him for, he even  
didn't know how long now, but obviously Nat knew some spots where everyone was  
ticklish. Nick was gasping for air. God, if she didn't stop soon, he would have  
to beg her for mercy soon. True, he was a vampire, he didn't need to breath,  
but laughing was only possible when he did breath. And right now he had quite   
some reason to laugh. He captured her merciless hands and raised his head to   
gasp for air when.... "Nicholas ?" he heard a confused voice behind him. His   
head spun around, LaCroix was standing beyond the skylight, his face   
unreadable. What was he doing here? He must have felt what had happened. Of   
course he had felt it, we are still linked, you thoughtless idiot, you should   
have thought about that earlier. Nick chided himself. He felt it and now he   
needed answers. What can I tell him ? Will he believe me if I tell him the   
truth? Next to him Natalie's giggles stopped. She felt that something bothered  
him and appeared next to him.  
  
***  
  
He drew in a sharp breath. The doctor was with Nicholas. She was vampire now  
and she was family. He could feel his son's doing. He had brought her across.  
Who would have expected this? After his little performance at Valentine's day  
he had been pretty sure that Nicholas would never bring her across. And then  
there was this third person, but that wouldn't come out of her (was it a her ?  
He listened with his senses. The feeling was very strange, but yes, it was a   
her) comfortable nest and she was his son's as well. He had brought two mortals  
across in one single day. Just what had happened this day? What had made him  
change his mind?  
  
***  
  
He deserved to know the truth, Nick decided and slowly scrambled to his feet.  
Natalie felt his decision and got to her feet as well. There was no reason to  
hide what she was if he was showing him his changes. "What are you doing ?"  
Rachel murmured half asleep, as she felt them disentangle. "It's Ok, Rachel.   
Nothing that should concern you." "Ok, then." She heard the sleepy reply as   
Rachel went back to sleep.   
  
***  
  
LaCroix watched his son standing up, stretching like a jungle cat and then   
straightening his attire. Next to him his no longer mortal love got to her   
feet. He saw... but he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Maybe his last   
snack had been tainted. Maybe he was suffering the effects of drug laced blood   
or maybe, maybe he simply had gone crazy. But he couldn't accept any of the   
self offered explanations. Specially the last one made him uncomfortable. His  
son seemed to feel his uneasiness and approached him.   
  
***  
  
Never he had felt such a mix of feelings from his father (Father ? Was he still  
his father ? Oh stop that now ! It is not the time to get philosophical.), not  
at all. But then, he had never made such a radical change before and his quest  
for becoming mortal did not count, because he had been unsuccessful. He took a   
step toward his father and then another. LaCroix stood like he was cemented to  
the floor, watching him get closer and closer.   
  
***  
  
He was standing in front of him now. He could stretch out his hand and touch  
him if he wanted, but he wasn't sure. What if it was only a figment of his   
imagination? What if this being in front of him turned to mist, to nothing if  
he dared to touch it? On the other side, what had he to loose? Only my mind  
he thought wryly. And then he touched him. Nicholas felt solid, not like an   
ethereal being or an illusion. His son was really here. And these changes? Were  
they there or just something his mind had made up? Only one way to find out. He  
grabbed and then a sharp tug..."Oww, stop that! It hurts and I don't want to  
look like a plucked goose!" It was this moment, when he starred at his son in  
disbelieve, his hand full of feathers, exactly this moment when Natalie Lambert  
burst into laughter. Both men turned to her.   
  
***  
  
"Nat, what is so funny?" "I..I..," she gasped for air and broke into a new fit   
of giggles. "Sorry, I... it's ridiculous but when you said this, I tried to   
imagine...." Another burst of laughter. "Yes? You were trying to imagine? Come   
on, Nat. Trying to imagine what?" She took several breaths and seemed to calm   
down. "You... looking like a goose." Gone was her mock professionally as she   
started to laugh at the look on his face. "Thanks, I needed that just now," he   
muttered, trying to present the picture of hurt dignity. "Could someone please   
tell me what had happened?" They turned back to LaCroix. "I felt your death,   
Nicholas. And then.. just a short moment ago I felt your happiness. And this..  
What is the meaning of this? What had happened?" He was confused and when he   
talked about him feeling Nick's death they could see the pain in his eyes.   
  
***  
  
Natalie stopped laughing. "You felt right. Nick was dead. Killed by some really  
perverted human beings. They drained him, his body, with a suction pump, of   
every drop of blood. It was horrible." She shivered as she recalled his screams  
of pain, his dead body, so cold and silent and her helplessness. "How then..."  
"How it comes that I'm alive again? Or my changed nature?" "Both."   
  
Nick drew in a long breath. That would be complicated. How could he tell him  
what had happened? It had to be the truth, he decided, but how should he   
proceed? Sharing his blood would be the easiest way, but could LaCroix handle   
all the details? Even he himself had passed out for hours from the memoric   
overload. So he would tell him a rather short version of what had happened.   
"Like Natalie said, I was dead. I crossed the threshold into the light and   
then.... then I meet someone, THE ONE. He/she looked like my mortal father. And  
they cleared some things for me, restored my memories of my former life and   
then they sent me back here." He stopped and thought about the things he had   
said. "That doesn't make any sense, does it?" "No, it doesn't."   
  
If that was possible, LaCroix looked even more confused than before. Maybe he  
should share his blood with him, it would made everything much simpler. Nick   
bit in his wrist to offer him the possibility of the bloodunion. It had been   
a very long time since he last made this offer, sometime in the 16th century   
he recalled and after all the things that had happened the last decades or so,  
he never thought he would ever agree to a blood sharing let alone initiating   
one. His father had already opened his wrist. Their blood mingled for the first  
time in centuries.  
  
***  
  
Disconnected pictures and scenes flashed through LaCroix's mind. So many and so  
vivid, he nearly lost control. How could that be? How could that happen to him?  
He started to sort through the images, tried to put them into chronological   
order but found it impossible. So he let them float through his mind, observing  
but not controlling. He figured that he could put them in the right order   
later. Some of the images didn't made sense but then.. pain, agony, like he had  
felt it the morning before. Death, an end to the pain. The light and then this   
being which looked like his son's mortal father. The cryptical conversation.   
And then an overwhelming flood of pictures, scenes, emotions. His mind was   
sucked into a maelstrom of memories. He couldn't stop the flood, he couldn't   
order them, he didn't even know where his own memories ended and his son's   
memories began. Never before had he been flooded with such an amount of   
information at one time. His mind couldn't cope with the overload and he did a   
very unusual thing: he passed out.  
  
***  
  
He caught his father easily, as he sensed him on the verge of passing out.   
After what had happened to him this afternoon, he had partly expected this   
to happen. He laid him down on the couch. LaCroix would be unconscious for  
several hours, depending on how fast he could assimilate and order all the   
gained memories and it was a safe bet that he wouldn't simply go home after he  
would wake. Nick covered his father with a blanket, then he went to pick up  
Rachel. She didn't wake but slept on, the deep, death like sleep of the   
vampire. She had been through so much this day and he felt rather tired too.  
Natalie was yawning. Time to call it a night and go to bed. He shut off the  
fireplace and closed the blinds, then he took his new little family upstairs.  
  
part twelve: sun, peace and babyfood  
  
She was floating in a sea of warmth, walking through a field of wildflowers.   
The sun was shining brightly, the scents of the flowers merged into a wild and  
beautiful fragrance and the wind that was breezing through her hair seemed to  
whisper her name. "Natalie." She turned her face toward the sun, bathed her  
face in the golden rays. "Natalie." The voice in wind became louder while the  
soft breeze seemed to caress her face. "Natalie." She turned around and opened  
her eyes and.... woke up. "Morning sunshine," Nick teased her. "Mmmrph," she   
murmured and tried to turn around to get back to that wonderful dream.   
"Natalie, please...don't go back to sleep now. The sun will be rising soon. I  
have waited for it so long, I want to share this with you." Natalie nearly   
cried, tears of joy. He was so happy, she was so happy, who would have guessed  
this just two days before?   
  
Nat crawled out of the bed and let him lead her down the stairs to one of the   
windows in the corner of the loft. Nick opened the shutter of just that window  
and she was beginning to ask herself why, if *she* had been confined into   
darkness for centuries, she would have opened all the blinds of all the   
windows. Then she remembered LaCroix. He was still sleeping/unconscious on the  
couch and she could guess that he wouldn't like the thought of being barbecued  
by the first rays of the morning sun.  
  
***  
  
The sky behind the glass was dimly lit with predawn light. Normally this was   
*the* danger signal for the vampire but this morning Nick felt no dread, no   
fear that would force him to run from the light and hide somewhere out of   
reach, but a feeling of peace seemed to settle itself deep into his heart. With  
quiet happiness he watched as the sky became brighter and brighter until the  
sun cast its first flaming rays upon the sky, lighting the clouds in a myriad   
of colors.   
  
***  
  
Nick pressed his hands against the window, his mind overjoyed, as he watched  
the beautiful miracle unfold before his eyes. The sunlight didn't burn him, but  
warmed his body like no fire could have done before.   
"It is so beautiful," he whispered. Words failed him as he wanted to capture  
this wonder and so he fell silent.  
  
***  
  
The sun rose higher and higher, the sky changed its color again towards a   
brilliant blue, accented by several gray clouds, promising snow for later.  
  
***  
  
Natalie watched him silently while he was captured in the colors and warmth of  
the sun. She had never been forced to stay away from the sun and couldn't begin  
to imagine how he had felt all this time to be denied this thing that humans  
take for granted. Sometimes she had been able to catch a glimpse of his   
anguish and longing and she had asked herself how he had remained sane. And   
now, he had found a way back to the light. Not in the way they had expected but  
neither of them would agonize about that now. In some way they had both gotten   
their wishes. She was with him now and he was in the light. What else could   
they ask for?  
  
"I'm hungry", murmured a small voice behind them. They turned around, startled.  
Rachel was standing behind them in a patch of sunlight and she looked at them  
with hungry golden eyes. The sun didn't burn her.  
Nick looked at Natalie, Natalie looked at Nick, both looked at Rachel. This was   
unexpected. True, father had promised the gift of the sun to all his future   
children, but Rachel had been brought across with the blood stolen from him  
before father had given him this precious gift. "Nick, how is that possible?"  
"I don't know Nat. I have absolutely no idea."   
  
"Something wrong?" Rachel asked. He crouched to her eyelevel. "Something is  
different, Rachel, but it is a good thing. It is just unexpected.. I'll tell   
you later..." He could feel her confusion, but also her hunger. He went to the  
fridge but stopped. He couldn't feed his new child cow's blood. No, he had   
made that mistake once, he would never do it again. He opened the freezer. Only  
three blood packs left. He must restock rather soon. Better make a call to the  
Raven and get a case or two delivered. Yes you idiot, and the one who delivers   
the case will tell every vampire what he had seen. Word will be out and all  
over the city in an eyeblink. Terrific. He sighed. There must be another way.  
"Nick?" He was startled out of his thoughts, as Nat appeared next to him.   
"Sorry, got carried away." "What is it?" "Rachel is hungry and she will need   
more human blood than I have. A lot more. And you will get hungry yourself,  
too." "Oh." "UmmHmmm, in the first time young vampires need to feed very  
often and Rachel has changed too fast, she will get even hungrier than normal.  
Normally I would make a call to the Raven, but the Raven is closed for the day  
and even if it was not, I couldn't get a case delivered now, because..."   
"Because word would be out, at least in the vampire community." "Yes." He   
murmured several words in a different language and Nat was very sure she knew   
at least the general meaning of these words. Curses sound rather identical, no   
matter what language was used. "So we need a mortal, who already knew that you   
and I and maybe even Rachel are vampires, whom you trust and who could get some  
blood for us." "Hmmm." "Well, what about Tracy?" Nick's face brightened.   
"You're a genius, Nat." She grinned slightly. "I know," she said, mock serious,  
which earned her a raised eyebrow from him. Shaking his head Nick went to the   
phone and dialed Tracy's number.  
  
***  
  
The phone was ringing. Tracy groaned and shifted to the other side, burying her  
head under her pillow. No chance. The unnerving noise got to her as well. She   
stood up, shuddered slightly at the cold floor and went to the phone. The   
blinds of her windows were shut tightly and the room was more than semi-dark,  
so she moved cautiously. It didn't help because just as she answered the   
phone she hit her leg on the coffee table. Hard. She yelped, let go of the   
receiver and unleashed a string of very detailed curses. "Somebody better have   
died, because I'm going to kill whoever's at the other end!" she muttered as   
she grabbed the fallen receiver. "Vetter," she grumbled. There was a soft sigh  
at the other end of the line and then the familiar voice of her partner said:  
"Would it help you to know that I already died two times and am dead in a way  
of thinking?" Tracy blushed. She hadn't meant for anybody to hear her rant.   
Damn vampiric hearing! "Sorry Nick. But why are you calling now? Shouldn't you  
be dead to the world like any other good little vampire?" He chuckled. She   
blushed some more as she noticed what she had said and to whom she had said it.  
Maybe her brain hadn't woken up by now, normally she didn't make such stupid  
remarks. Nick disrupted her musings. "Tracy, I'm sorry I have woken you, but I   
have a situation here and I need your help." He described his current problem   
and why his request couldn't wait until dusk. Tracy thought about her   
possibilities and promised then to organize some human blood for his new   
'children'. Finally she said good bye and hung up. The next thing she did was   
start the coffee maker, somehow she simply knew she would need a lot, a hell of  
a lot coffee to make it through this day.   
  
***  
  
Nick hung up the phone. "Tracy, someday you'll have to tell me where you  
learned those." he muttered. "What's up?" "Uh, nothing really, just thought  
aloud." "About?" "About my friendly perky partner, who isn't very friendly and   
definitely not perky if somebody wakes her before her normal time. I thought  
those curses were only known by sailors." Nat chuckled. "Well, she's always   
been good for surprises." "You can say...." He took the three blood bags and  
handed them to Rachel. She eyed them curious. "What is that?" "This is what you  
need, Rachel." "Is it..." "Is it blood? Yes. Donated human blood." "How do you   
get people to donate for you?" He laughed. "No, they don't donate the blood for  
me, but they donate it at the blood bank. When the blood bank couldn't use it  
due to antibodies or if it's too old, they sort it out and well, throw it   
away." "Gross." Rachel started but then the hunger overwhelmed her and she bit   
in the first bag and drained it dry.   
After she had emptied the third and final blood bag her hunger was gone and her  
eyes returned to her normal color. "That was good," she murmured to herself  
half surprised. "What was it, that I felt when I drank it ?" "You feel the   
thoughts, emotions and memories of the donor. You know the old saying that   
blood is life ?" Rachel nodded. "It is true. Blood is life. Every drop of blood  
holds the whole life of a person." "Mine too?" "Yours too." "Even the years   
that I can't remember?" "Everything you did, everything you felt, even if you   
don't remember it." Rachel grew silent, then she took a deep breath. "If I   
drink my own blood, will I remember the years that I've forgotten?" "Yes...do  
you want to know what happened?" "I'm not sure... I'm afraid.... but on the  
other side...I've the feeling that some part of me is missing because I can't  
remember." He looked at her thoughtfully. Watched her as she tried to describe  
the feeling of loss she felt due to the lost memories. And he knew that she had  
to remember her past to go on. "Rachel.... you don't have to decide right now.  
Take your time, think about it, and when you come to a conclusion, I'll help  
you." She smiled. "Thank you."  
  
***  
  
Two and a half hours later Nick and Natalie watched Rachel sleeping. She had   
curled herself in a kitten manner in the patch of sunlight, produced by the one  
unshuttered window. The door buzzer hummed to life. He looked at the small   
video monitor and like he had guessed it was Tracy. A half frozen,   
not-as-perky-as-usual Tracy, but as curious as ever. He buzzed her in.  
  
***  
  
Tracy wasn't in a particularly good mood. She had hit every single location she  
could have thought about to *borrow* some *babyfood* for Nick's new children.  
She had had some really good coffee for breakfast, but that was a long time and  
now her system was practically in withdrawal. "Here," she handed him two   
shopping bags, "do you have any idea how difficult it was to..." she stopped  
"Well I think you might." "Thank you Tracy. I really appreciate what you did   
and yes, I do know how difficult it could be to organize blood under those   
circumstances." He waved her further into the loft. "Make yourself at home,   
Tracy. I need to feed the kids." "Hey!" Natalie appeared next to him and   
punched him in the ribs. "Who are you talking about?" He smirked and rubbed the  
area where she had hit him. "Face it Nat, as long as you havn't passed a  
hundred, you're a kid. And you haven't passed a hundred while I wasn't looking  
.. or?" He teased her, but she could hear the truth in his statement. For the   
next sixty or more years she would be looked at as a child. But that doesn't  
mean that she had to like it. She blew him a raspberry, took the shopping bags   
out of his hands and went to the fridge to restock it. Nick grinned at her   
childish gesture, but the smile vanished as he felt her uneasiness through  
their link. He approached her and sneaked his arms around her. "Nat? I'm sorry.  
I didn't mean to upset you." He snuggled nearer to her and used their link to   
let her feel what was in his heart. Natalie leaned closer to him and closed her  
eyes as his love washed over her.  
  
***  
  
Tracy cleared her throat. "Guys, I think this is not the right time for....  
well.. you know what I mean." Natalie looked down at her feet embarrassed   
while Nick, who was very grateful for his inability to blush, turned to Tracy.  
"I'm sorry Tracy. I...we..." "It's OK. Tell me, you probably don't have any  
coffee here, do you?" "Yes, under the sink." "Under the sink? Gross! Why do  
you keep your coffee under the sink?" "Well, it's not like I drink any." "Sure,  
but I need some pretty badly. You don't mind if I indulge myself?" "Go ahead."  
She nearly pounced on the location of the coffee. For someone who didn't drink  
coffee, Nick kept an astonishing good blend. Then she remembered, that it had  
been Natalie, who had been the one who drank coffee at Nick's. Well, not any  
more. That meant she could really indulge herself. Tracy grinned, maybe this  
day wouldn't turn out that bad after all. She brewed herself a healthy portion  
of coffee and was just practically inhaling her first cup, when Rachel awoke.  
  
Rachel was hungry again. This time Nick was prepared and when she uncurled  
herself, he handed her a mug of warmed plasma. Tracy watched him as he   
approached Rachel. "Nick?" "Yes?" "You're standing in the sun! How is that  
possible?" "That is an really long story, but one I promised Nat and Rachel to  
tell as well." "Ok, let's settle down somewhere comfortably and then you can  
tell us the story." Nick shrugged. Then he heard a groan from the couch.   
LaCroix was awaking. Nick sighed, now it all would become a slight touch more  
complicated.  
  
part thirteen: Storytime: The beginning  
  
He woke up with a mindsplitting headache. Gods, he felt terrible. His head felt  
like someone had tried to stuff it with straw, with more straw then possible.   
How had he maneuvered himself into this position? He tried to remember, but   
thinking seemed to be a rather difficult task right now. Vaguely he remembered  
sharing blood with his son, but what had happened next? Scenes of another   
one's life flashed through his mind. Nicholas' life, he realized. But there  
were scenes, memories, emotions from before Nicholas' time, from before his own  
time and then there were some things that really caused him headaches. He would  
have to ask Nicholas about this, but first he had to get up without his head   
falling from his shoulders. He drew in several deep breaths. While he didn't   
need the oxygen, he had always found that simple method being successful for   
calming down someone's ragged nerves. The pain started to subside and he could   
feel the sun. The sun was up, hadn't even gone half its daily path, so why was   
he awake? And where was he? Couch, he was on a couch. Not his own, but   
Nicholas' couch. He was in his son's home. The headache only an annoying memory  
by now, he started to look around and met the eyes of his son. Nicholas looked   
straight at him. The window behind him was unshuttered. The sunlight washed   
through the glass, pouring out a spot of brightness in the dark. Nicholas was   
standing in that spot of light. He was surrounded by the sun's golden rays, but  
he didn't smoke or burn, there wasn't the slightest feeling of discomfort in   
their link. "How," his voice was raspy and shaken, "how is this possible?"   
Nicholas gave him an apologetic smile. "I just wanted to tell the others the  
whole story, won't you come and join us?" LaCroix nodded gravely and Nick  
closed the shutter. He knew how difficult it would be for LaCroix to be that   
near to the searing deadly sunlight.  
  
***  
  
Nick settled down comfortably, waited for the ladies, who were raiding his   
meager stocked fridge and then were making themselves comfortable for his  
story. He took a deep breath and began. "Well, I don't know how I can tell you  
the entire story, it is so unreal. If I didn't know that it is the truth I   
wouldn't believe it. I don't even know where to begin." "More unreal than   
this?" Tracy gestured at him and Nat. "Try me." "Ok, Tracy. I'll try. When I...  
when this man, Dasken, killed me, when I died I had no choice but walk into the  
light..." "Wait a minute, was does it mean, walking into the light? Into the   
sunlight?" "No Tracy, when a vampire is being brought across, he or she goes  
to the place between life and death and must make the choice to come back to  
life. We all," he gestured at the other's in the room, "have been there and  
have made the choice to return to live as vampires. But this time I had no   
choice. I was dead as a vampire, clear and simple and like any other one who   
died finally I was taken to the place behind the light. The place of the last  
decision. And there I met a being who looked like my mortal father, but wasn't  
him. This being told me that I had lived another life, before this one and I   
had to remember that life again." "OK, that sounds really weird." He nodded, if  
this hadn't happened to him, he wouldn't believe it himself. "Tell us about   
this other life." Nick closed his eyes and let the memories surface. "I   
remember a time before time itself, no space, no physical bodies, only light  
and darkness in an eternal now. I was not really born. I didn't exist at one   
moment and then in the next moment I was. And there were others like me,  
brothers and sisters. We witnessed the beginning of everything." By now he was   
unaware of the presence of the others. "When you add some light, where only  
darkness had been before, and bring some darkness to where there had been  
light, a chain reaction is started and creation begins. We lived at a place  
beyond time and we watched, but we didn't interfere. I don't know how long   
everything was so peaceful, there was no time to measure, I only know that one   
day it all changed.  
  
*************** Flashback: Beyond time and space ***************  
  
"I don't care what you are thinking, Nathanael, I say that I can do it all   
better than Elohim. Elohim is old and weak. I'll fight and victory will be   
mine!" "But you can't do this! Elohim is our creator, the one who made us!"   
"That doesn't matter, Nathanael. I'll take Elohim's place! I'll be the new   
Elohim! You'll see!" "Lucifer, wait! Please don't do this." But his pleas went  
unheard as Lucifer disappeared in the distance.  
  
***  
  
Soon after that had happened, Lucifer called out a revolution and started to   
gather companions for his fight. A deep split went through Nathanael's   
siblings. They all decided to fight. Some at the side of Lucifer and the others  
at the side of Elohim. Nathanael felt uncertain. How could he fight against his  
own brothers and sisters? How could he kill members of his family? He had  
already declined an offer from Lucifer's party but could he fight against him?   
He loved his siblings and he loved his creator and he couldn't say whom he   
loved more. Finally he made a decision.  
  
***  
  
"Michael." Wearily Nathanael watched his brother and his followers. "Nathanael.   
We've heard you have chosen not to fight at the side of our traitorous   
brother. Come and fight with us for Elohim." Nathanael sighed. He had awaited   
this. "I can't, Michael. I can't fight against my brothers and sisters."   
Michael looked at him emotionless. "I see," he stated. "I'm sorry, Michael.   
Really, I am." But just like Lucifer hadn't listened to his pleas to stop his  
plans, Michael turned at him and he and his followers left him alone. Nathanael  
felt another connection break and when he was sure, that he was alone, he   
started to cry.  
  
***  
  
Nathanael watched the battle unfold before his eyes. The elementary forces of  
the different groups crashed together for the first time. The released energy  
shook creation in its deepest core. He could feel fragile stars flickering and  
die. Planets changed their orbits and suns exploded. But he didn't really   
notice that. Something more important had happened. His first siblings had   
died. He memorized their names and mourned for them. It didn't matter for which  
side they had fought. He knew that the killed of the losers side would be   
forgotten and the winner side would only mourn for their own loss. But they   
were all his brothers and sisters and he honored their lives by mourning and  
remembering.  
  
***  
  
The battle was the frightening in its unbelievable force. Both sides fought   
with every reserve of energy they had and the meanest tricks they knew. But  
slowly the followers of Elohim began to gain the upper hand. Lucifer fought  
hard, but his fraction was slightly smaller than the group around Michael,  
and he wasn't as good at fighting as Michael.   
  
***  
  
He lost. Lucifer cried, a long howling cry of hatred and wrath. And then, to   
Nathanael's surprise and horror, Lucifer started to change into something   
different. His brightness was swallowed by the darkness of hatred and his mind  
lost its beauty. Again he cried and then he fell. His angry cry could be heard   
long after he had vanished from their home with all his followers, who had   
changed as well. Nathanael felt a slight change taking place in himself. But he  
didn't became dark like his brother, but a bit more colorful than before. His   
sister Gabriel approached him. "Nathanael. Elohim wants to speak with you." He  
felt cold. Would he fall now as well? He hadn't fought, what would happen to  
him now? And then Elohim was there.  
  
"Nathanael." "Elohim." Nathanael was afraid. Terribly shaken. And his creator  
noticed this. "Why are you afraid?" The voice was soft and encouraging. "I..  
I'm so sorry. I have disappointed you. I didn't fight like the others. And I've  
noticed that I've changed." "You don't need to be sorry, my son. I am not  
disappointed about you. You didn't fight, because you felt it wasn't right to   
turn against your siblings. It was the right thing for you to stay out of the  
battle when you found that you couldn't kill your brothers and sisters.   
Nathanael, you changed, because you have grown up. You are ready to take   
responsibility. My other children will have much to learn until they are ready  
to take places in the realms of time and space. You'll sent to a planet that is  
destined to carry life. Nathanael, you'll be their teacher and guardian   
through the times. But you have to change, have to give up your state of being  
and become fleshen." "Fleshen? I? Bound to a body?" "Yes. The life of this   
planet will be fleshen, so the planets guardian has to be fleshen as well, but   
I will still be there. In spirit." Nathanael thought about it for a moment. "I   
am afraid, Elohim." "I know. It would be strange and foolish not to be afraid.   
Nathanael, calm yourself. Center your being and listen to what I have to teach   
you." Nathanael did what he was told. Slowly he calmed down and centered   
himself a one point. He listened and learned and unnoticed to himself he   
changed into a solid form.  
  
-On the infant planet-  
  
It was dark and cold and he felt strange. Small rocks were digging themselves  
into his flesh. Flesh, he was fleshen, he had a body now. This realization made  
him blink and he noticed that it had been dark because his eyes had been   
closed. Eyes, he had eyes to see. Slowly he looked around. This was his new   
home and he should make himself familiar with this new terrain. Everything   
looked different, strange through his eyes. He could see only the surface of   
things, not behind it like he could have before. Cautiously he stood up. His   
legs seemed to carry him well, although he felt a bit wobbly at first. He  
looked down at himself. That was he? Two legs, two arms, hand and fingers, feet  
and toes, a chest and a back, a head. He wriggled his fingers and then his   
toes. It felt a bit funny and he could feel the corners of his mouth tugging up  
into his first smile. "I see you're happy in your new life, brother," stated a   
voice behind him. He turned around. Behind him was a swirling cloud of darkness  
and he shivered as he felt the emanating evil. Lucifer, he realized. Nathanael  
wanted to back away, to run to safety, but he knew he couldn't escape him. Not  
while bound to flesh. "What do you want with me, Lucifer?" "Lucifer? I don't  
use that name anymore," the dark cloud snickered. "I'm here to give you a   
*present* for your new life." Now Nathanael backed away, but it was useless. In  
the next moment he was surrounded by darkness. The black cloud started to tug   
and tear at his body and, when he screamed, it invaded his mouth and rushed   
down into his lungs. "No more light for you, little brother. You'll learn to   
live in darkness like me," the voice of his brother whispered into his ear. "I  
give you weaknesses and the ability to die. And... I give you the desires and  
abilities of a predator, because from now until your death your only type of  
nourishment will be the life-force of the beings around you, specially the   
life-forces of your protégées." Nathanael screamed in horror and protest, as  
his new body was forced to change again. And suddenly, he was alone. He looked   
down at himself again to see if he had changed, but he couldn't make out any   
differences. Except that his eyesight was a lot better than before. And...he   
was hungry. It felt like his veins were empty and burning for substance. His  
eyes felt warm and his teeth itched. When he rubbed his tongue at his teeth  
he discovered that two of them were now twice as long as they had been before.  
Accidentally he cut his tongue at the sharp tips of his now elongated teeth and  
his own blood rushed down his throat. It was ecstasy. It was so good and it   
tasted like himself, but it didn't sate him. In fact he was hungrier than   
before. His ears noticed the drum-like sound of another beings heart and   
instinctually he attacked. The large birdlike creature released a piercing   
scream, when he bit deep into its throat. He hit a vein and the blood of the  
creature gushed into his mouth, nearly choking him. Greedily he swallowed. The   
blood of this being didn't taste as good as his own, but he was sated now. He  
wiped the corners of his mouth. When the first feelings of satisfaction died   
down, he realized, that this, that the blood of other innocent beings would be   
his only food until he lost this body. Lucifer's *gift*. And there had been   
others. He remembered the words of his brother far to well. He felt sick,   
violated, but he knew he had to live with this situation. Elohim would be only   
with him in spirit and he had already told him that he wouldn't interfere into   
Nathanael's life. Resigned he started to seek shelter, when his body told him   
that he had to flee before the coming period of light.  
  
*************** End Flashback ***************  
  
part fourteen: Storytime: Interlude  
  
Tracy's coffee became cold, as she listened to the incredible story, Nick told  
them. Absentmindedly she took a sip from her mug, then she choked as the cold,  
bitter beverage hit her tastebuds. The choking sounds broke the silent spell.  
Nick opened his eyes, returned to the present. He looked into the round. The  
others were staring at him in shock and disbelief. Somehow he had thought they  
would react a bit more violent, but he was happy that they didn't. He could   
feel them struggling to digest everything he had told them. The only person  
he wasn't linked with was Tracy and her emotions were clearly written on her  
face. But before she could say something, LaCroix nearly exploded :" You really  
want us to believe this? That is insane, impossible and you know it!" Nick   
sighed. It had been too good to be real. Well on the other side he kind of   
expected this reaction, specially from LaCroix. "No, I knew you would not   
believe me. But nonetheless this is the truth. It is real and it did happen."  
"So why don't you feel any different? If this *is* the *truth*, why did our   
link remain the same? If you were as old as you are implying, your mental   
presence should be almost physically overwhelming!"   
  
Nick was silent. He could answer all these questions, but he was sure that   
simple answers wouldn't be sufficient. He opened his mind and there they   
were: the countless mental blocks, walls and veils he had placed subconsciously   
while he had been changing. His friends were waiting for an answer and he   
would give them more than that.   
  
Slowly and silently he began to remove some of the mental barriers, letting   
more of himself seep into the links. The three other vampires gasped when   
Nick's mental presence began to change, becoming older and stronger by the   
minute. Tracy didn't know what was happening, only that Nick didn't feel like   
Nick anymore, different, but still the same. It was causing her a major  
headache. Still Nick was changing. He became older than every other vampire   
any of them had encountered. Suddenly he stopped. "I have removed some of the   
mental barriers. Shall I go on?" LaCroix looked at his 'son'. Nicholas felt   
like he was ten thousand years old by now. And he had just removed *some* of  
the mental blocks? I wonder how it would feel like when he drops all his mental  
defenses. "Please Nicholas, go on. Show us all of it." And Nick showed them  
all. He let go of every single mental block, every wall and buffer he had   
created. There was nothing that could have prepared them for this. His mental  
presence nearly had a physical appearance of its own. They were barley able to  
breath when his aura started suffocating them. Nick then rebuild his network  
of walls and blocks until he felt to them again like being *only* eight hundred  
years old. He stood up to get himself something to drink and to give the others  
some time to regain their composure. On his way to the refrigerator he switched  
on the coffee maker, Tracy surely would appreciate something hot and strong.  
Then he returned to sit next to Nat, politely refilling the glasses of blood.  
"I think you are more likely to believe me now. And you now know why there had  
been no change in the link." Nat simply nodded and LaCroix took his glass,  
chugging the blood in one hasty draught.   
  
Tracy looked around, like she had been shaken out of a dream. "Whoa. Wait a  
minute, wait a minute. Could anyone please tell me what just happened here?"   
She turned to Nick. "You felt so strange. So different. What have you done?"   
"I have removed all mental barriers from my mind. I felt strange, different,   
because I let you feel all of me. Normally I subconsciously block my mental   
presence to a degree." "So the strange feeling I just had, that is how you   
really feel to others? That is the real you?" "You could say that. Yes." Tracy   
thought about it for a minute, thought about the strange feeling, compared it   
to what she had felt from others and came to a conclusion. "You must be really   
old." "Yes, I am." "How old?" Tracy inquired. Nick shrugged his shoulders   
helpless. The typical gesture seemed alien with the movement of his wings and   
the slight rustle of the feathers. "I actually don't know Tracy. First I lived   
at a place beyond time and when I started living here on earth there was no  
calendar to measure time. Time was a new concept for me and when I figured out   
how to measure it, I lost track, stopped counting my years after something  
about three thousand years." "Whew." Tracy whistled, when she heard him   
casually talking about such an vast amount of time. "It must be something to  
live that long." Nick looked her straight in her eyes. "You think so, Tracy?  
Immortality has its drawbacks. Imagine a life that never ends. Do you have any  
idea how boring such a life could be when you are alone? When there is nobody  
to share your life with? When you really have nothing to do? Think about it,  
Tracy." His voice wound itself into her brain and she shuddered at the  
sincerity of his tone. He spoke like he had known such times and when she  
thought about it, the more she became sure that he had lived through such  
timeperiods. Natalie snuggled against him. "Nick?" She murmured softly, "please  
tell us what happened then."   
He remembered where he had stopped in his tale and soon he was back into his   
past.  
  
part fifteen: Storytime: Early stations of a life  
  
************** Flashback: The infant planet **************  
  
Nathanael was tired. Hunger gnawed at him, but his hunt had been unsuccessful  
the last few days. The lingering heat of the former day didn't help him   
either. He couldn't sense a single animal. It made him nervous. Normally there  
would be at least some smaller beasts on which he could feed, but tonight there  
was nothing. His skin was tingling. Something was wrong, terribly wrong, but  
he didn't know what. Then he heard it, a low dangerous humming. The air was   
vibrating. A flaming ball crashed from the firmament. The light of the fiery  
rock hurt his eyes. Then the crash. The earth groaned under the impact. He   
had barely time enough to bury himself in the soil, before the first shockwaves  
raced over the area. He was frightened and hungry, but nonetheless he fell into  
in a deep dreamless sleep.  
  
When he awoke, he was confused. His inner clock told him that it was well after  
sunrise, but he didn't feel the usual dread that warned him before the   
dangerous sunlight. Slowly and cautiously he started to dig himself out of the   
ground. The sky was dark, darker than normal, even at night. No sun, no moon,  
no stars. And silence, like the world was too shocked to utter any noises. His  
hunger returned to him, more forcefully than before. He needed to hunt, to   
feed. He swung himself into the air, starting to search for prey.  
  
***  
  
It was day. At least his senses told him that it was day. There were no   
differences between night and day now. The firmament was hidden beyond layers  
of dust. No sun at day, no moon, no stars at night. How long had it been? He   
didn't know. He was too cold to think. The temperature had dropped and snow   
storms hit the area quite regularly now. The wind was howling, making it more  
difficult to locate prey. The times when he went to sleep sated had become   
rare. Many races hadn't made it, when the fiery sphere hit the planet and even  
more vanished in this never-ending darkness and cold. How he wished the dust  
veils would disappear. How he wished he could get warm again. Faint noises  
interrupted his useless musings and he concentrated on the situation again.  
  
***  
  
Nathanael had stopped to count the days, months, years a long time ago. So he  
didn't know how long the earth was covered in total darkness. One day finally  
the sun worked its way through the dust veils. It had taken some time until the  
moon and stars were visible on the night sky too, but it had happened. Again  
he was confined during the daylight hours but on the other side he was more   
than relived that the long period of total darkness was over. He witnessed   
Nature starting over again, filling the gasps of the vanished species with new,  
different forms of life. But the species, the lifeform he should guide and   
teach, still hasn't appeared. When, when would they develop? He felt useless,  
he wanted to do something more, something different than watching plants and  
animals change and develop, something else than hunting and waiting. He didn't  
want to be alone anymore.  
  
***  
  
Empty time. That was it. He was living in empty time. Really nothing to do,  
nothing to live for. He was so tired. Like a mindless machine he would stand  
up every night, he would hunt, eat and then he would search. Always hoping  
that he would find something new, different. But the one thing he was hoping  
to find, he never did find. Then where times when he nearly got mad with  
loneliness. That were the times when Elohim would speak to him, renewing his  
hope, letting him feel that he wasn't alone. And then he would wait again.  
Beginning the circle anew.  
  
***  
  
He watched the small group snuggling together to coax some warmth into their  
tired bones. Nathanael had followed the evolution of this species with   
interest. When they had started to move on two legs instead of four he started  
to monitor them more closely. More and more he became sure that this species  
was the one he should guide, teach and protect. But it was too soon to   
interfere. He had to wait. If and only if they develop the ability to speak,  
then he could be sure they were the ones. And then he had to win their trust.  
When he had run into them accidentally they had run away in fear. It was time  
to leave them alone, for now. He merged with the shadows. It would need time.   
And he had that time. In fact he had all the time of the world.  
  
***  
  
Nathanael glanced back at the cave, that had been his home for the last two   
years. It had been a good time. After a long time of waiting and checking, he  
had discovered that the beings had discovered speech and the usage of simple  
tools, when he had monitored them the last time. A short time after that   
discovery he had tried to contact these beings. The first contact didn't go  
the way he had planned it. The mortal beings didn't run away from him, but they  
believed he was a sort of god. No, definitely not like what he had planned. It  
had taken him some time and energy to make them understand that he was not a  
god, but wanted to teach them new things. It had been a success. He had taught  
them several simple things and now he watched them carrying that knowledge on   
by teaching it to their children. Now it was time for him to leave this group.   
He had to go on and find similar small groups to teach them as well. And then  
repeat that pattern again and again. But he would miss the ones he left behind.  
Always. He sighed as he went away.  
  
***  
  
Time went on. Nathanael tried not to notice the years moving by so fast. There  
was so much for him to do, so many people to teach to. But he did notice the   
slow but steady change in the mortal beings he was teaching. They were losing  
their fur and their facial profiles changed too. They looked a bit more like  
him, but their skin was black while his was nearly as white as fresh fallen   
snow. Their hair was black and tousled, his was fair and while their eyes   
were a deep shade of brown, his were a brilliant blue. There were so many   
differences between them, but he felt accepted by them. The groups grew larger,  
split into new small groups, that grew large again. And he was a part of them,   
of their stories, of their legends, of their lives.   
  
***  
  
It was by accident, when he had been hungry and had attacked a lonely hunter,  
that he made his first child. The blood of the young man was sweet, with a   
slight earthy touch and the distinct smell of the woods. It was so much better  
than the blood of the animals he normally consumed. Only when he heard the   
heart of the man weakening and knew that he was dying, Nathanael stopped.   
Scared by what he had done. Maybe he could save him by giving him some blood  
back. He started to feed him his blood, pleading to him not to die, but to come  
back. And the young man came back to life, but he was changed. He was like him  
now. Nathanael could feel a bond forming between them and realized that the man  
had somehow become his child. His responsibility. He had to teach him the   
meanings of his new life. He would teach him all he knew and together they   
would be able to reach more people, would be able to teach more of them at one  
time. And when the time was coming to move to the next group, he wouldn't be   
alone anymore. Nathanael smiled when he carried the young man into his home.  
  
***  
  
His child's name was Zwer and he had been a loner before. He had no group he  
could go to and he had waited for his death in the woods. Instead he was given  
eternal life and someone who cared for him. At first he was confused,   
overwhelmed by all the new things, abilities he had to master, but he was a   
quick pupil and a good companion. For over three hundred years he helped   
Nathanael to teach and to guide the mortals. But then Zwer wanted to start his  
own family and Nathanael let him go. He was kind of sad to release Zwer to his  
own fate, but he knew that he would not entirely lose him until death, because  
of the bond they shared. The bond he would share with all of his children and  
their children, and their children's children. He would be linked to them all.  
  
***  
  
Twenty years after Zwer had left him he took his next child and shared some  
time with it. And so time went on. He would create children, teach them   
everything they needed to know and when they finally wanted to start their own  
families, he would let them go. Over the years his family grew larger and   
larger. Sometimes his children came back to him after short periods of   
separation, some for a short visit to introduce him to their new family and   
others to stay with him again.   
  
***  
  
The time went on and the mortal beings changed more and more. Their skin- and  
eyecolors changed slowly, influenced by their surroundings and different types  
developed, fitting in their environment. And their environment changed as well.  
New species of animals and plants appeared, some to die again soon, some to be  
integrated and developed further on. The temperature dropped, only to rise   
again. The continents drifted apart trapping some of the mortals and of his  
children behind oceans and only his link connected him with them.  
  
The mortals started to settle down, developing different cultures. Nathanael  
was happy and contend. And then the rebellion started. He was not prepared for  
the forces that branded against him. The younger members of his family didn't  
want to live with their restrictions. They wanted to be something better than  
mortals, they wanted to be gods. Nathanael and his older children were against  
the tendencies of the younger ones, but the younger ones started to make more  
and more children, turning them into an army and lead them against their own  
family. They told their troops to show no mercy against their elders. Except  
for their forefather. He should be spared. But that did nothing to smother  
Nathanael's pain. His links were vibrating with pain, hate and death. All over  
the world the troops of the young ones attacked their elders. Some of them   
escaped by closing off their links and going into hibernation, a deathlike   
state his species used to sleep through times of trouble. But Nathanael stayed  
awake. These were his children's children, who tried to eliminate their past to  
build a new, a wrong future. He watched the battles, he fought in the battles.  
He removed several mental barriers to bring the young ones to their knees with   
the sheer presence of his age, but they were too many. They couldn't get him  
personally because of his emanating mental presence, but they used mortal  
servants, who didn't feel the mental vibes and paralyzed him with several  
stakes. This immobilized they made him watch slaughtering mortal villages until  
he agreed to reveal his age, so that they could get close to him, draining him  
of his life elixir, to learn the secrets of the Elder. But whoever drank of his  
blood forcefully would pass out from the pain and the mourning he would pour in  
his blood and they would be forever changed.  
  
The young ones forced the mortals to build temples for them and praise them as  
their gods. They fed without remorse from everyone they want and they thought  
of themselves as the rulers of the world. It didn't last long.  
  
*************** End Flashback ***************  
  
part sixteen: Aftermath  
  
The sun went down and Nick stopped. "I think that is enough for now." He  
refused to tell any more this evening, even when Nat and Tracy teamed up to  
persuade him otherwise. It was sooo interesting, sooo unbelievable and yet he  
had seen it all, had done it all. And he had a really good way of telling   
stories. "Come on, I've talked nearly the whole day. I am worn out. At least   
for now. We can continue later, ok?" Reluctantly they accepted his offer to   
continue later. But he was right. They had lots of other things to do and it  
wouldn't do them any good if they neglected them.   
  
Tracy was the first who had to go, vowing to herself to do some research on all  
the things she had learned about her partner (after she had bugged Cohen into   
giving her some short time leave, but that was quiet easy after the incidents  
of the last time). Then LaCroix took his leave as well, promising to discretely  
deliver some cases of the Raven's stock.  
  
***  
  
Finally they were alone. The silence was deafening. "It is eerie quiet."   
Natalie observed. "It seems so." Nick looked at her with silent happiness. It  
was then, that the reality sunk into Nat. In one moment she understood the  
meanings of all the things that had happened the last days. Suddenly she felt  
rather small, young and helpless and she started to shake. "Nat...Natalie."  
Strong arms embraced her and she felt safe, wanted to hide and never again face  
the outside world. But a small voice deep inside her told her, that she had no  
choice, but to learn to live with the new situation. "I'll help you, Nat. You  
and Rachel. Everything will be alright then. We will make it alright." Her  
tense muscles relaxed and the panic quieted down. "I feel so silly," she said.  
"No, you feel overwhelmed. Your whole life has changed and there is no way, but  
going forward. It happens to all of us. Everyone had these moments when they  
want to go back, to unmake their choices....., but that is not possible." "No?  
There is no way back?" He sighed. "There is one way, but...I'm afraid not for  
me and, as long as you are with me, not for you." "There is a cure then?"   
"Yes." "Tell me about it." "When a female vampire falls in love with a mortal   
man and is loved by him equally strong, they can make love without the vampire   
killing the mortal. And the female vampire will become pregnant." "Pregnant?  
But I thought...," Natalie blurted in excitement. "You thought vampires were   
infertile?" At her hesitant nod he continued, "You are not alone with that   
believe. Most vampires believe it also. It has not happened in the last four  
thousand years. There are legends, but they are very inconclusive." He stopped  
for a moment, remembering his unhappy daughter Serena, who had taken one of   
those legends too literally and had failed in achieving a baby...and mortality.  
"Anyway, when a female vampire becomes pregnant, she will slowly become mortal   
again. She'll change with her child, which will be completely mortal either."  
"And male vampires?" "We are not infertile either.. But when a male vampire   
impregnates a mortal female, she will slowly change until the vampire has to   
cross her over after delivery. Their child will be appearing human, but when it  
grows up, it will develop more and more qualities of the vampire until it will  
become completely vampire sometime during its twentieth year of birth." She   
thought about it for a moment. "And..," she hesitated for a moment and then   
continued, "..what about a vampire/vampire couple?" "I have never heard or seen  
about a resulting pregnancy. But it should be possible. Why? Are you planning   
ahead?" She grinned sheepishly. "I always wanted a big family." Her eyes   
glanced over. "I wanted to be the mom that my mother could never be." A silent   
red tear slid down her cheek as she recalled the fateful evening when her   
parents went out to never come back again. He knew what she was recalling. The   
pain about the loss of her parents had been strong in her blood. Afterwards   
there had been the abuse by her grandmother and she had felt so lonely, only   
Richard had been there. She had been something like a surrogate mother for her  
brother, but nobody had been there for her. She had buried herself in her work.  
And then he had woken up on her slab and her life had changed. All this he   
recalled in a short moment, then he drew Nat closer to him and let her feel   
comfortable enough in his arms that she could cry. It was something that she  
needed to do, like he had needed it few days ago.  
  
***  
  
Tracy shut down her computer. Whew she thought. Doing research on her partner  
had been more interesting then she had thought. She had started with the name  
he had given her and the Captain when Natalie had been kidnapped and had   
learned that he was a dual citizen, Canadian and Belgian. Her interest piqued  
and she had started to hack around, a skill she had perfected over the years.   
And then she had hit paydirt and nearly had to pick up her jaw from the   
ground. "Oh my.... !" She murmured when she scrolled down the screen. That was  
incredible! Impossible! Or was it? Maybe he didn't knew the last developments  
in this area. Something told her that this was the most possible explanation.   
She had copied the data and had made a printout. To show it to Nick when she  
would go back to hear the rest of his story. Poor Nick... first he's forced to  
open up parts of his secret, then he and Nat are changed in a very unusual   
fashion and now that... "Oh God," she sighed, "..you sure have a weird sense  
of humor."  
  
***  
  
The music was blearing loud and the dance floor was full with mortal patrons,  
dancing to the seductive beat of the music. So far nothing out of order. But  
the immortal patrons were milling around nervous. Something had happened. They  
all had felt it, the short decloaking of a *very* old vampire. Someone was in  
town who was older then the eldest known elders and that made them jumpy. And  
that somebody knew how to cloak there presence. He or she could be anybody,   
anywhere. Nobody knew who it was. Nobody...except one. LaCroix stood at his  
usual place, brooding. He didn't know what to do, what to make out of the   
situation and this insecurity made him more vicious than he normally was.   
Everyone was avoiding him after he had snapped at one of the waitresses, nearly  
tearing her to shreds verbally. He had told Miklos to bring two cases of uncut  
and one case of cut blood to Nicholas' loft, leave them in front of his   
doorstep, buzz and then come back to the Raven. Miklos had been a bit puzzled,   
but he had a very good survival instinct and that instinct told him to better   
leave it alone now or he would never live to get an answer to his questions.  
  
***  
  
The door buzzer was humming, startling them. Nick went to the security monitor  
to see who was buzzing, but there was no one, just three cases with the Raven   
logo. "Who is it?" "Dinner." "Dinner?" "Yep, someone from the Raven was here  
and left a delivery at the door." Natalie threw a pillow at him. "Hey! What   
is that for?" "For making me think that.." "..that I'm going to snack on the  
someone who was buzzing?" He finished her sentence. She nodded, trying   
unsuccessfully to hide a grin at his mock hurt features. He threw the pillow   
back at her and before she could start a serious pillow fight he vanished via  
the lift to get the cases of bloodwine. "Party Popper," she murmured and gave  
the pillow a sharp kick. "I heard that, you know," said his voice behind her.  
She turned around to see him entering via the skylight, carrying the three   
cases with him. "You...!" she shouted, "...don't do that! You nearly gave me a  
heart attack! I thought you wouldn't be able to do that anymore!" He grinned at  
her and landed in the kitchen, putting the cases on the table. The next moment  
he was under attack. "Let me see...," murmured a merciless Natalie, "..where  
was that extra ticklish spot of yours?....Ah yes.. I think I just found it,"  
she smiled with satisfaction when he doubled over with laughter.   
  
***  
  
"Vachon?" Tracy braced herself for the moment when he would appear. Normally he  
would sneak up at her and startle the crap out of her. She knew this but,  
she couldn't help herself to be surprised every time. Not today. He was moving  
around in his refuge like a caged tiger. "Hello Tracy." "What is wrong,   
Vachon? You're nervous." "NO, I'm NOT!" He snapped at her. She merely lifted an  
eyebrow at his display of nervousness. "Ok, ok. So I am nervous. Satisfied?"   
"No. Why are you nervous?" He sighed. Tracy wouldn't give up until she knew why  
he was so jumpy. He knew her all to well. "Something has happened in the   
community." "Oh...." Tracy thought she knew what has happened, but better safe  
than sorry, "...what has happened in the community?" He gave up. Damn, he   
wished she wasn't a resistor... "Someone is in town....someone *very* old.   
Whoever it is, can cloak his or her presence, so nobody knows who it is." He   
started to pace again. Yep, he's talking about Nick. "But when this someone  
can cloak his presence, how do you know he is here?" "During the day, I bet,  
every vampire in Toronto was woken due to the sudden uncloaking of this   
presence...." he seemed lost in thought. "Wait a moment," he turned towards   
her, "..*his* presence? *He* is here?" Uh oh. Tracy thought me and my big   
mouth. Open wide, insert foot. Maybe then I would stop at the right moment.  
"You know something, Tracy." She squirmed under his look. Damn, damn, double  
damn! I shouldn't have come here. "Come on, Tracy... tell me." Oh no! He is  
using *that* look again. Damn him! He knows I can't resist the puppy look. She  
sighed. "Ok, yes. I know something." She released a deep breath. "I know who it  
is, and where he is and what he is." "And?" "And what?" "Who is he? And where  
is he? And what is he?" Again! He's doing the look again! Tracy knew when she  
was defeated. She knew his tactic. He would ask her again and again, using the  
look that made her mushy inside to mellow her defenses until she would give up.  
She knew that, but she hadn't found a good counter she could use now. She   
released another deep sigh and surrendered. "He is the father of all vampires  
on this earth." Her thoughts raced. His name. I can't tell Vachon that Nick is  
the one he had felt. Then she remembered the other name. "His name is   
Nathanael and....," Time to drop the bomb, "...and he is staying at Nick's  
loft." Vachon choked. "WHAT?! Oh my GOD! He's going to kill him!" "Who?" Tracy  
played the dumb. "Knight! He's going to kill Knight!" "Why?" She asked   
innocently "Why!? Because he....he..." "..because he is a vampire who had   
broken the rules?" Tracy finished his sentence. "Yes! Exactly! He.. Hey.. wait   
a minute! ..You know..." "That my oh so mortal partner isn't as mortal as he   
appears to be? Yes. I know." "How..? Wait! You can tell me later. First we have  
to warn Knight about this Nathanael character! Come on!" Oh Vachon.., Tracy   
thought amused, you are in for a *big* surprise!  
  
part seventeen: One step a time  
  
They had drunken as much blood as they could. And now Nick was teaching them   
how to use their link. How to use it to become one. It was a rather simple, but  
sadly a nearly forgotten skill and he was determined to change that fact. He  
felt good, when he bathed in the depth of Nat's feelings. And for one tiny  
moment his cloaking flickered. One tiny moment, but it was enough.  
  
***  
  
"Dios! He is in there! The old one!" Vachon was shouting, but Tracy barely   
heard him. She concentrated purely on hanging onto him. This was the second  
time in one week that a vampire was taking her flying. It could be nice, if he  
slowed down a little. Nick will kill me for this, she thought, well, if   
Vachon didn't kill me first, that's it. "Ooo NOOO! VACHON! NOT...," CRASH!!  
"...through the CLOSED skylight!!!" Tracy finished the sentence. The three   
people who had sat on the couch jumped up when Vachon crashed through the   
skylight. "Knight! Get the hell out of here! There is this really old dude...  
I felt him here just one second before!..." Vachon stopped. He took a look. And  
then a second look. "One moment... what the hell has happened with you?" Nick  
cast a stern look at Tracy and raised one eyebrow. "I'm sorry, Nick. I slipped  
and he nailed me." He rolled his eyes. "Oh well, it is done. Would you please   
tell him the rest before he explodes?" "Hey, what the hell is going on here?"   
Vachon looked from Tracy to Nick and back to Tracy. "Vachon..," Tracy gestured  
in Nick's direction, "..meet Nathanael."  
  
***  
  
Cohen stared at the printout in disbelieve. Sure, she had known that he had  
hidden several parts of his life, but she had never expected something like  
this. She had never thought he would run away from his responsibilities. That  
changed everything. What to do now? The question was rhetorical, she realized.  
She would let him have the time off, he would need it to cope with the changes  
and then... then she would turn him over to the Belgian government. It was her   
duty, her responsibility. But first, she stacked her printouts and fished for   
her keys, first she would have a long serious talk with Knight, or whoever he   
was.  
  
***  
  
"WHAT?!? Say that again, Tracy." She rolled her eyes. "I said that he..." "I   
heard what you have said, but that is not possible! You must be mistaken. HE  
can NEVER be the scary old dude I've felt.." Nick shook his head and Natalie  
tried to stifle her giggles. Rachel watched them interested, her head turning  
like she was watching a tennis match. "Actually Vachon, Tracy is telling the  
truth. I AM Nathanael." "But.. but how is that possible.. you are older than   
me, that I admit, but you're not the oldest. You can't be..." "Vachon..,"   
Nick's voice was quiet and soft, "..don't be scared." And he opened the mental  
cloak. ".....!" Actually, I'm a lot older than you think I am. Vachon   
heard Nick's amused voice in his head. How did you do that? I am linked   
to all my children and my children's children and so on. My head hurts.  
"Sorry..," Nick murmured and then the mental presence, that had felt like it   
was pressing him through the floor of the loft with the force of an falling   
anvil, was gone. Vachon stared at him in shock. The door buzzer hummed. But   
nobody noticed it.  
  
***  
  
She parked her car in front of the warehouse, pressing the buzzer, but nobody   
answered. He was here. She knew it. All the lights were on and where else   
should he go to? He was here, and she had to talk to him. Now. She reached in   
her purse. He had had a key for emergencies in his deskdrawer and somehow she  
had known that she would need it. The door opened with a slight squeak. She   
shuddered involuntary and then chided herself. What did you expect behind the  
door, Frankenstein's monster? Return to reality, Amanda. She switched on the  
light and then climbed the stairs upwards.  
  
***  
  
"I don't understand it... You are Nathanael.. You are the oldest vampire around  
and yet you let everybody believe that you are the eight hundred year old son  
of the general.." "It is not that simple Vachon. Yes, I am Nathanael, but at  
the same time I am Nicholas de Brabant, a mortal turned vampire crusader and   
LaCroix' son. I am both." "That doesn't make sense. You can be only one person,  
not two at the same time." Nick shook his head. "I can and I am two people.   
But why, that is a very very long and complicated story." Vachon sat down with  
a tortured look on his face. "Ah, Nick before you try to explain it all to  
Vachon, could you please take a look at this?" Tracy interrupted them by   
handing him her printout. "What is that, Tracy?" She looked a bit embarrassed.  
"Well, I was curious ah... and I did a bit research on you." He grinned. "Can't  
stop being a cop, Tracy?" He opened the file and scanned the sheets.   
  
***  
  
"But that is impossible!" Cohen heard Knight call out when she opened the door  
to his apartment. "I was with them just half a year ago. They were fine. They  
can't be gone..." Nobody had noticed her so far. Knight was standing next to  
his fire place with an unmarked file in his hands. "Nick, it is obviously true.  
They are gone, all gone and you are the last one." "I can't believe this."   
Cohen nodded to herself. So he had obviously not known the new circumstances.  
Somehow that made her feel better. He hadn't tried to run away from his   
responsibility, he had simply not known about it. Cohen cleared her throat.  
Five heads spun around, five pair of eyes looked at her and one pair of them  
was glowing. Or was it? The glowing golden hue flickered and vanished, leaving   
behind an emerald pair of surprised looking eyes. She decided to ignore it,   
because she wasn't sure if she had really seen what she thought she had seen.  
"Captain?" "I'm sorry that I came in on you that way, but it seemed to me that   
nobody heard the buzzer." Knight seemed to be a bit embarrassed. "Uh... yes,   
Captain. We had quite a discussion here." "And this discussion is far from   
being over," interrupted a man with long brown hair. "Vachon..," murmured   
Detective Vetter and elbowed him in his ribs, but he didn't seemed to notice.  
"Come on, Trace. You didn't want him to explain why he's two people at the same  
time?" Cohen cocked an eyebrow at this statement and Tracy stomped at Vachon's  
foot. Hard. That he did notice and when he saw the murderous look in her eyes,  
he decided wisely to stop talking. But what he had said made sense, at least to  
Cohen. She met Knight's eyes. "He is telling the truth, isn't he? You are   
virtually two people, are living two lives at the same time." He simply nodded.  
"Why?" "If you had known who I am, would you have let me work for you?" She  
thought about it. No, no she wouldn't. She would have judged after his name and  
state and would have decided that policework was too dangerous for him. And she  
would have lost one of her best detectives. But now that doesn't matter   
anymore. She sighed. "You are right, but that doesn't matter anymore. The   
Belgian government is searching for you desperately." "What will you do now,   
Captain?" "I will give you the month you have asked me for, I am sure you'll  
need it and then..., then I will turn you over to the Belgian government." He   
nodded. "I think I can live with that. Thank you, Captain." Cohen felt a bit  
awkward and left soon after she had said goodbye. They released a collective   
breath when she went away. One step further into the loft and she would have  
noticed all the broken glass and the destroyed skylight.   
  
They cleared the glass away. Then Nick asked Tracy and Vachon to please leave  
them alone, maybe Tracy could tell Vachon all the things she had learned about  
him in the mean time. And the two left.  
  
***  
  
Natalie closed the file. "New twist in your life, eh?" He sighed and snuggled   
closer to her. "No... a new twist in our life...that means if you and Rachel..  
if you want to... I mean if you.... Nat, could you imagine.. to stay with me..  
forever? Natalie...., would you... marry me?" She whooped "YES! Of course!" She  
started to cry. "Nat.. why are you crying? Is something wrong...did I.." She   
shook her head. "I am just so happy, so very very happy. You have made me so   
happy." No more words were needed.  
  
***  
  
Later, when reality started to set in, she asked him, what he would do now,  
with this new situation and all. He smiled and pulled her closer to him. "We  
will take it like we get it. One step a time. One step in the right direction."  
  
***  
  
Far away, deep in the untouched woods, a wolf's ear twitched in his sleep and  
the wolf smiled.  
  
~Fin~  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
I needed six month to write this story, I started October 1999 and finished  
March 2000. The time between then and now was filled with beta-reading and  
simple cowardice. 


End file.
